By Ekaterina Kravtsova
LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) - Spot liquefied natural gas (LNG)prices in Asia dropped this week as no substantial demandemerged to offset an oversupply of cargoes in the market.
The LNG price for northeast Asia delivery in September isestimated at $4.25 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), a35 cent drop from the previous week.
The October delivery price is estimated at $4.95 per mmBtu.
"The reason (for the price drop) is no demand," an LNGtrader said.
"China is doing nothing, Japan is dull, India doesn't domuch," the trader said, adding ample spot cargo offers were alsoweighing on prices.
Indonesia's Pertamina and Italy's ENIjointly offered three cargoes for loading in August, Septemberand October from Indonesia's Bontang LNG plant in a tenderclosing July 29.
Australia's Ichthys plant was selling two cargoes forloading in August and September in a tender that closed on July26.
Also in Australia, Chevron sold a cargo from theNorth West Shelf plant to BP at $4.12 per mmBtu on thefree-on-board FOB basis, while Diamond Gas International (DGI)sold a Wheatstone cargo to Royal Dutch Shell, a tradesource said.
Egypt's EGAS cancelled its August tender for three cargoes,two sources said. One of the reasons was an increase in domesticgas consumption as summer is when Egypt's gas demand peaks, oneof them added.
Nigeria LNG closed a tender for an August loading cargo onJuly 22.
Gazprom sold six FOB cargoes loading in Cameroonover 2020 to trading house Trafigura, two marketsources said. One of them added the price level was a 19 centdiscount to Japan Korea Marker (JKM).
There is also a number of U.S.-sourced cargoes offered inthe market. One source said the best offers were around $3.10mmBtu.
On the demand side, South Korea's POSCO and S-Oil jointlypurchased a cargo at around $5.10-$5.15 per mmBtu for deliveryin the second half of October.
A trading house sold cargoes to India this week at around$4.00 per mmBtu.
Lithuanian fertiliser and chemical producer Achema boughtfour cargoes for delivery in the fourth quarter from Norway'sEquinor.(Reporting by Ekaterina Kravtsova; Additional reporting bySabina Zawadzki; Editing by Mark Potter)