LNG Markets Analysis: Asian LNG Price Rally Stalls Despite Plant Outages

SINGAPORE, April 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Plant outages in the Middle East and Pacific basin failed to re-inject tautness into an abundantly supplied market as March's rally in LNG spot prices collapsed in early April. Mild spring weather and the ample availability of short-term contractual supplies were cited as weighing on sentiment.

The May '15 EAX contract closed at $6.90/MMBtu on 15 April, having risen to a peak of $7.856/MMBtu on 30 March. Overall, the May '15 shed a total of $0.413/MMBtu since opening as the front-month contract on 16 March.

The ICIS East Asia Index (EAX) is an arithmetic average of the DES (delivered ex-ship) front month and second month ahead assessments for Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China. The index provides a measure of the commodity's value across the East Asia region and is a reliable LNG reference price for the region as it incorporates a wider pool of demand centres. 

As the new front-month rolled over, sellers appeared confident of sustaining the rebound from the market's mid-February lows. The lowest offer for H1 May delivery into the region on 17 March was recorded at $8.00/MMBtu, the highest level since January. Buyers edged only slightly towards sellers as the highest bid for the same period was recorded at $7.25/MMBtu.

Traders cited competition in South America, where state gas company ENARSA issued a tender for 11 cargoes for delivery from April to June, as a factor supporting prices.

Availability on the prompt was also constrained by shoulder-period maintenance, as well as a brief weather-related outage at Pluto LNG and temporary shutdown at BG Group's QCLNG plant to bring the first train to full capacity. As such, some cargoes for April delivery were understood to be sold at over $8.00/MMBtu, reflecting a premium to expectations for May and June.

By late March, strengthening National Balancing Point (NBP) prices were also providing upward pressure on sentiment as buyers expressed concern at possible competition from new Floating storage regasification units (FSRUs) in Egypt and Pakistan for Atlantic basin cargoes.

But by the end of the month, waning demand and the onset of warmer-than-average weather reversed the trend. A combination of lower nominations under annual delivery programmes and expiring contracts left abundant volumes available at Pacific basin plants including Indonesia's Bontang, Indonesia's Tangguh and Russia's Sakhalin.

Read further breakdown of the recent trade activities through this article link - http://www.icis.com/press-releases/apr15-eax-lng-article/ 

About ICIS  

ICIS is the world's largest petrochemical market information provider and has fast-growing energy and fertilizer divisions. Our aim is to give companies in global commodities markets a competitive advantage by delivering trusted pricing data, high-value news, analysis and independent consulting, enabling our customers to make better-informed trading and planning decisions. We have more than 30 years' experience in providing pricing information, news, analysis and consulting to buyers, sellers and analysts.

With a global staff of more than 800, ICIS has employees based in Houston, Washington, New York, London, Montpellier, Dusseldorf, Karlsruhe, Milan, Mumbai, Dubai, Singapore, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Yantai, Tokyo and Perth. Some 350 of ICIS's staff are journalists engaged in reporting market prices and news, and ICIS is fully committed to upholding the highest journalistic principles of verification, corroboration and authentication. ICIS has a compliance framework that along with its methodologies and business processes adheres to the requirements of the IOSCO PRA Principles.

ICIS is a division of Reed Business Information, part of Reed Elsevier Plc.

About Reed Business Information  

At Reed Business Information we provide information and online data services to business professionals worldwide. Customers have access to our high-value industry data, analytics, information and tools. Our strong global brands hold market-leading positions across a wide range of industry sectors including banking, petrochemicals and aviation where we help customers make key strategic decisions every day. RBI is part of Reed Elsevier, a leading global provider of data, information and solutions for professional customers.

For further information about this release, please contact:
Aileen Wang
Senior Marketing Executive, ICIS
Email: aileen.wang@icis.com 
Direct: +65-6780-4339