Spot charter rates for the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier fleet rose this week, while the Atlantic forward rate for October increased above $200,000 per day, according to Spark Commodities.
Last week, the Spark30S Atlantic ended at $71,250 per day and the Spark25S Pacific at $70,500 per day.
Rates remained range bound during four weeks in July.
“LNG freight rates moved higher this week with the Spark30S Atlantic up $4,250 to $75,500 per day and the Spark25S Pacific up $3,000 to $73,500 per day,” Henry Bennett, Spark’s head of pricing, told LNG Prime on Friday.
“The SparkFFA Atlantic forward curve is in steep contango, suggesting a significant tightening over the coming months as we approach winter, with the September23 forward rate at $151,000 per day and October23 at $202,250 per day,” he said.
As per European LNG pricing, SparkNWE for September23 deliveries “remained stable this week, at $9.749 per MMBtu, at a small 1.5c discount to the TTF,” he said.
“The SparkNWE forward curve, however, is in steep contango with November23 deliveries at $12.494 per MMBtu and December23 deliveries at $14.437 per MMBtu,” Bennett said.
The TTF price for September settled at $9.859 per MMBtu on Thursday, while the JKM spot LNG price for September settled at $9.859 per MMBtu.