Charter rates for the global liquefied natural gas carrier fleet dipped this week as vessel availability increased, while spot LNG prices remain well above $30/MMBtu.
According to Spark Commodities, LNG freight rates for a 160,000-cbm TFDE carrier reached $196,000 a day in the Pacific on Tuesday, down $131,000 or 40 percent since last Tuesday.
This marked the largest ever one-week decline for the Spark25 Pacific spot rates, it said.
Previously, the Spark25 Pacific spot rate hit a record high of $374,500 per day on November 26.
This was even higher than January this year when a cold snap in Asia and Europe boosted Atlantic spot rates to $322,500 per day.
Spot LNG at about $35/MMBtu
The JKM spot LNG price surged to $56.326/MMBtu in October due to the gas price crisis in Europe and winter restocking demand among Asian end-users.
It hit the highest level for the LNG benchmark for Asian spot LNG since Platts launched it in early 2009.
The price declined in the meantime but it continues to trade well above $30/MMBtu.
According to Platts, the JKM for January reached $35.730/MMBtu on Tuesday.
Dutch TTF price also surged this week and is now trading above 120 euros per MWh.