Asian LNG Spot Prices Steady As India Seeks To Soak Up Some Of Supply Glut
Asian spot prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) for cargoes delivered in February slipped this week amid ample supply, but losses were limited as Indian companies sought cargoes to meet spot requirements.
The average LNG price for February delivery into northeast Asia is estimated to be about $5.45 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), down five cents from the previous week, several industry sources said.
The price for cargoes delivered in January is estimated to be about $5.65 per mmBtu, steady compared with last week, they said.
India's Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC) was seeking two cargoes for delivery in January, with one of them to be a commissioning cargo for the newly built Mundra terminal, industry sources said.
The 5 million tonnes a year Mundra LNG terminal is 75 per cent-owned by the state, while billionaire Gautam Adani's eponymous group holds the remainder. The terminal was expected to start up in October but had been delayed, the sources said.
Meanwhile, India's Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Reliance Industries were also seeking cargoes for delivery over the January to February period, sources said.
GAIL (India) has partly awarded its tender to sell up to 10 LNG cargoes for loading in the United States over early 2020 to early 2021, an industry source said. But details of how many cargoes it sold were not immediately clear.
Elsewhere PetroChina International Singapore has offered the lowest price for cargo for delivery in February in a Pakistan LNG tender, a document on the Pakistani buyer's website showed.
PetroChina's offer was at 8.59% of Brent crude oil prices. Other offers came from commodity traders Gunvor, Trafigura and SOCAR Trading, with prices ranging from 8.68% to 9.77%.
Turkish state energy company Botas may have awarded a tender to buy about half of the 30 cargoes it was seeking for delivery over December to March, at a discount to Dutch TTF prices, according to one industry source, though this could not immediately be confirmed.
Still, supply was adequate with the Angola LNG project offering a cargo for delivery over January to February and Oman offering two cargoes for February and March delivery, industry sources said.
Russia's Sakhalin 2 plant may have awarded a tender to sell a cargo for loading on Feb. 17 at $5.30 to $5.50 per mmBtu, one of the sources said, though this could not be confirmed.
Kinder Morgan Inc's nearly $2 billion Elba Island export plant in the U.S. state of Georgia sent out its first cargo on Dec. 14 on the vessel Maran Gas Lindos, according to data available on Refinitiv's interactive map.
The destination for the cargo was not immediately clear but will likely be in Asia, an industry source said.
(Reuters)
