Pacific spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) freight rates increased this week, while European prices declined compared to the week before.
Last week, spot charter rates rose slightly in both basins.
“Following 9 weeks of significant freight rate increases, the Spark30s Atlantic rates decreased by $1,250 to $88,250 per day this week,” Qasim Afghan, Spark’s commercial analyst told LNG Prime on Friday.
“In comparison, Spark25S Pacific rates experienced a $4,500 increase this week, rising to $56,750 per day – this is the highest Spark25S rate since February,” he said.
European prices dip
In Europe, the SparkNWE DES LNG front month was down compared to the prior week.
“The SparkNWE DES LNG front month price for August delivery is assessed at $9.755/MMBtu and at a $0.165/MMBtu discount to the TTF,” Afghan said.
“This is a $0.656/MMBtu week-on-week decrease in SparkNWE DES LNG price, the largest week-on-week decrease in 11 weeks,” he said.
Data by Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) shows that volumes in gas storages in the EU continued to rise and were 80.09 percent full on July 10.
Gas storages were were 78.10 percent full on July 3, and 80.04 percent full on July 10 last year.
JKM drops
In Asia, JKM, the price for LNG cargoes delivered to Northeast Asia, for August settled at $12.365/MMBtu on Thursday.
Last week, JKM for August settled at 12.485/MMBtu on Friday.
Front month JKM dropped to 12.390/MMBtu on Monday, 12.365/MMBtu on Tuesday, and 12.350/MMBtu on Wednesday.
State-run Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) said in a report earlier this week that JKM was on a downward trend last week due to low demand, “as Japan and South Korea have already procured the required number of cargoes for the summer season, while India’s electricity demand has been significantly reduced by the monsoon”.
Korean demand
S&P Global Commodity Insights said in a report on Wednesday that South Korean private LNG importers have entered the spot market to meet potentially higher power demand this summer.
Over the past two weeks, three importers had bought approximately five cargoes for August shipments, according to the report.
Also, the recent purchases of August cargoes were primarily driven by price competitiveness, as JKM prices approached $12/MMBtu, slightly undercutting the wholesale gas prices of state-run Kogas, S&P Global Commodity Insights said.
Komipo tender
Korea Midland Power (Komipo) has released a tender this week inviting firms to submit bids for one spot LNG shipment for delivery in September.
Komipo is seeking 3.2-3.8 trillion British thermal units (TBtu) of LNG on a delivered ex-ship (DES) basis.
Moreover, the delivery window is September 26-27 and the volumes will be delivered to a Kogas-operated LNG import terminal in South Korea, according to Komipo.
Komipo said the tender deadline closes on July 17 at 16:30h Singapore time.