By Ekaterina Kravtsova
LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Asian spot prices for liquefied
natural gas (LNG) slumped this week as floating storage cargoes
started unloading into an already oversupplied market.
The average LNG price for December delivery into northeast
Asia <LNG-AS> was estimated at $5.90 per million British thermal
units (mmBtu), $0.40/mmbtu down from last week.
Vessels floating with cargoes on board waiting for a higher
price have started discharging, with most of the volumes
expected to be unloaded this month.
This could further pressure prices, traders said.
"The November-December spread is not as wide as the spread
between November and previous months was, so it doesn't make
sense to hold cargoes for longer," one LNG trader said.
Floating cargoes were unloaded this week in Greece, Poland,
Spain, the Netherlands, India and Japan.
Some of the longest floaters are heading to terminals for
unloading now. The Diamond Gas Sakura that loaded a U.S. cargo
back in mid-August signalled Taiwan's Yongan as its destination
this week.
The majority of the still floating cargoes is scheduled to
reach various terminals in early November, while at least nine
vessels are either not moving or do not have a confirmed
destination yet.
DEALS
At least two deals were done this week below or close to
$6/mmBtu, an LNG trader said. Russia's Sakhalin 2 project
awarded a Dec. 11 loading cargo below $6/mmBtu, the source said.
The cargo was offered on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.
Japan's Tohoku Electric Power bought a late
December cargo just below $6/mmBtu, the source added.
There was a deal for end December at S&P Global Platts
market on Close (MOC) window at $6.10/mmBtu between Vitol
and BP. The majority of bids in the window
for December were below $6/mmBtu this week.
Poland's state-run gas firm PGNiG has awarded its
tender for five cargoes at a $0.10-0.15/mmBtu discount to the
Dutch gas benchmark, a source said. The cargoes are for delivery
in the first quarter 2020.
JERA Global Markets has awarded its tender for the first
quarter 2020 delivery at a $0.10-0.15/mmBtu discount to the
Japan Korea Marker (JKM), another source said. Five of eight
cargoes were awarded to Shell, BP and Mitsui, a
separate source said.
DEMAND
Spot LNG demand remained scarce this week.
Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) is facing a
situation of full LNG storages, a source said. KOGAS might have
bought up to 15 cargoes for January and February delivery, two
trade sources said last week.
Growth of LNG demand in China in 2019 is expected to slow to
14%-17% from 41%-42% in 2018, according to analysts from Wood
Mackenzie and IHS Markit.
But the domestic gas price in China is higher than the spot
LNG price, so there could be some opportunistic buying, traders
said.
In terms of tenders, Mexican state power utility CFE was
seeking one cargo for mid-November delivery.
Turkish state energy company Botas issued a tender closing
on Nov. 8 to buy 70 LNG cargoes for delivery over 2020-2023.
.
(Reporting by Ekaterina Kravtsova, additional reporting by
Jessica Jaganathan in SINGAPORE; Editing by Emelia
Sithole-Matarise)
