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Spark’s data lead, Qasim Afghan, told LNG Prime on Friday that Spark30S (Atlantic) rates have risen $12,000 this week to $101,750 per day.
Conversely, Spark25S (Pacific) rates have dropped $1,250 to $71,750 per day, he said.
Geopolitical risk continues
“Another week, another batch of bizarre news (and non-news) to digest. While geopolitical risk continues to support LNG prices, the impact on LNG shipping has eased considerably from the immediate spike after the early attacks. This is perhaps not a surprise given the underlying fundamentals, but rates remain at multiples of their pre-war levels,” Fearnley LNG said in its weekly LNG report on Thursday.
The Oslo-based advisory and brokering firm said that, in the Atlantic basin, prompt requirements “remain relatively scarce, and there is sufficient tonnage to keep rates broadly flat.”
“However, there is a sense that more demand exists just below the surface, and while rates may not have shifted significantly, the balance of risk is turning to the upside,” Fearnley LNG said.
“East of Suez has shown comparatively steadier activity, including from the sole Middle East producer, Oman. The availability list is not being stretched at present though, and rates are drifting slightly downwards. Looking ahead, much will depend on how regional imports respond to current pricing dynamics, such as whether Asia will draw more volumes out of the Atlantic and when Europe will begin refilling storage,” Fearnley LNG said.
“For now, the market remains finely balanced but with freight lagging broader fundamentals; any shift in activity could see rates react quickly,” it said.
Continued demand for delivery slots into NW-Europe
In Europe, the SparkNWE DES LNG dropped compared to last week.
“The SparkNWE front-month DES LNG price for May delivery is assessed at TTF-$0.440, indicating continued demand for delivery slots into NW-Europe,” Afghan said.
“The outright NWE DES LNG price is now at $14.194/MMBtu, the lowest front-month DES LNG price since before the Iran conflict but still approximately $4 higher than pre-war levels,” he said.
Afghan said that “the US prompt (M+1) arb to Asia via COGH continues to point to Asia at +$0.145/MMBtu – the arb has now been open for a full week, marking the longest prompt signal to Asia (via COGH) since July 2024.”
“This is incentivizing cross-basin flows and therefore works to tighten vessel supply – a significant contributing factor to the recent increase in Atlantic freight rates. The US arb via Panama remains open and firmly pointing to Asia for the 7th week running, now priced at +$0.745/MMBtu,” he said.
Data by Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) shows that volumes in gas storages in the EU dropped from last week and were 29.56 percent full on April 16, 2026.
Gas storages were 29.92 percent full on April 9, 2026, and 35.97 percent full on April 16, 2025.
JKM
In Asia, JKM, the price for LNG cargoes delivered to Northeast Asia in June 2026 settled at $16.130/MMBtu on Thursday.
Last week, JKM for May settled at 19.420/MMBtu on Friday, April 10.
Front-month JKM rose to 19.440/MMBtu on Monday. It dropped to Tuesday and 19.350/MMBtu on Tuesday and 19.198/MMBtu on Wednesday.