SINGAPORE: Asian spot prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell this week as a supply glut continued to weigh, while demand growth was muted by signs of a mild winter in Northeast Asia.
Prices for January delivery to Northeast Asia are estimated to be about $5.70 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), down 20 cents from last week for the same period, said several sources who are market participants.
With European gas storage nearly full, cargoes may struggle to find a home, traders said.
Singapore’s Pavilion Energy has taken the unusual step of canceling the loading of a cargo from the US, but has agreed to pay for it, several industry sources said.
A company spokeswoman said Pavilion evaluated scheduling and other commercial matters and took the decision not to lift the cargo in coordination with the supplier.
Supply was ample with several LNG plants offering cargoes this week.
Angola’s LNG project offered a cargo for delivery in January to as far as Indonesia, while Australia’s Ichthys and Papua New Guinea LNG plants offered a cargo each for December, sources said.
Indonesia’s Tangguh LNG plant, which is operated by oil major BP, also offered five cargoes for delivery over the first quarter of next year, sources added.
Some buy tenders from Thailand were finalized with PTT’s Singapore trading unit awarding a tender to buy more than 10 LNG cargoes for delivery over a year from March, 2020, a company official said.
State-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) has awarded its first spot tender to import LNG cargoes for delivery in December this year and in March next year, industry sources said.
It is also seeking government approval to import one more spot LNG cargo for next year, one of the sources said.
South Korea’s SK Energy and POSCO were jointly seeking a cargo for delivery in the second half of December, industry sources said, although further details of the tender were not immediately available.
Low spot prices also attracted some demand from India, with Indian Oil Corp. seeking a cargo for delivery on Dec. 17, industry sources said.
“The low prices may be creating some end-user demand in India which is attracting purchase interest in the international market,” a source familiar with the Indian market said.
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