Platts: September Asia LNG Prices Rise

Monthly average prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for September delivery to Asia rose 3.5% from August to $16.005 per million British thermal units (/MMBtu), as production outages supported higher offers and bids, according to the latest monthly Platts Japan/Korea Marker (JKM) for month-ahead delivery. The monthly average Platts JKM for delivery in September was assessed over the period of July 16 to August 15.

This marked the second consecutive month-over-month gain in the monthly average JKM.

On a year-over-year basis, the average September JKM increased 18.4%.

At the beginning of the assessment period, the JKM prices were supported by short supplies due to production limitations. Nigeria LNG lifted its force majeure only on July 26, despite production resuming on July 13, and operations at Australian Woodside Petroleum’s Pluto LNG liquefaction plant also resumed around mid-July.

“But both restarts did little to rein bullish sentiment on near-term prices, given the time needed to ramp up production rates and reschedule affected deliveries,” said Sarah Cottle, editorial director of power at Platts, a leading global energy, petrochemicals and metals information provider and a premier source of benchmark price references. “However, the spot market became more bearish as supply gradually outstripped demand towards the end of the assessment period, with a series of sell tenders issued in the spot market over the past few weeks.”

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LNG World News Staff, August 22, 2013