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Spark’s data lead Qasim Afghan told LNG Prime on Friday that global LNG freight rates continue to marginally increase since the record lows seen earlier this month.
He said that Spark30S (Atlantic) freight rates rose by $1,250 to $6,250 per day, and Spark25S (Pacific) increased by $750 to $10,750 per day.
“This week saw 160 vessel spot rates in the Atlantic basin turning positive again for the first time in 3 weeks, currently assessed at $1,500 per day,” Afghan said.
US LNG cargoes continue to head to Europe
In Europe, the SparkNWE DES LNG decreased compared to $15.097/MMBtu last week.
“The SparkNWE DES LNG front month price for March dropped by $1.137 to $13.96/MMBtu as the TTF continues to drop,” Afghan said.
He said the discount to the TTF “widened by $0.05 to -$0.62/MMBtu, marking the widest basis in over a year and indicating continued increased demand for LNG delivery slots in NW-Europe.”
“The US arb to NE-Asia (via the Cape of Good Hope) for February narrowed for a fourth consecutive week, rising by $0.120 to -$0.502/MMBtu, but still continuing to signal that US cargoes are incentivized to deliver to Europe instead of Asia,” Afghan said.
Data by Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) shows that volumes in gas storages in the EU declined from last week and were 41.93 percent full on February 19.
Gas storages were 46.57 percent full on February 12, and 64.97 percent full on February 19, 2024.
JKM
In Asia, JKM, the price for LNG cargoes delivered to Northeast Asia in April 2025 settled at $14.250/MMBtu on Thursday.
Last week, JKM for March settled at 14.950/MMBtu on Friday, February 14.
Front-month JKM dropped to 14.550/MMBtu on Tuesday and 14.115/MMBtu on Wednesday.
State-run Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) said in a report earlier this week that JKM for last week (February 10 – 14) fell to “high-$14s on February 14 from low-USD 16s the previous weekend.”
“JKM rose to the low-$17s on February 10, the highest since November 2023, due to high European gas prices. It then continued to move in line with European gas prices as high inventories in Northeast Asia remained unchanged, falling to the high-$14s,” JOGMEC said.
