By Ekaterina Kravtsova
LONDON, April 18 (Reuters) - The upward trend in Asianliquefied natural gas (LNG) prices reversed this week as ampleoffers of cargoes saturated a market where demand was limited.
After rising for two weeks to reach over $6.00 per millionBritish thermal units (mmBtu) in the second week of April, theJune price for delivery of LNG into northeast Asia <LNG-AS>dropped into $5.00 territory, sources said.
The average June price was estimated at $5.40 per mmBtu onThursday as offers of supply met with sluggish demand and a dropin European gas prices.
Reflecting the low levels of local demand, China NationalOffshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) issued a sell tender for a Julydelivery cargo to ports outside China from its Hainan terminal.
Offers also came from Australia's Ichthys project andMalaysian producer Petronas, each for one June cargo, threetrade sources said.
Energy majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell are also offeringJune cargoes, two of the sources said.
On the demand side, Japan's Toho Gas Co is lookingfor a cargo to be delivered in July, with the rest of Asia'srequirements largely fulfilled last week.
South Korea's GS Energy bought a cargo last weekfor early June delivery at a price close to $6.00 per mmBtu, LNGtraders said.
Argentine energy company Integracion Energetica Argentina(IEASA), formerly known as ENARSA, has a buy tender for eightAugust cargoes open until April 25.
Indian companies continued to look for cargoes but limitedimport capacity was not leaving much room for spot deliveries, asource active on the Indian market said.
Prices for June supply to the country followed the downwardtrend in northeast Asian prices and were estimated at $5.10 permmBtu on Thursday.
Indian Oil Corp has a tender for June deliveryopen until April 24.
In Europe, trading activity was subdued, with onlyopportunistic interest in LNG cargoes amid a generallyoversupplied European gas market.
The front-month price in the Netherlands has dropped byalmost 30 cents in the past week and traded just below $5.00 permmBtu on Thursday. LNG cargoes were priced at around a 30 centdiscount to benchmark gas hub prices, traders said.
Asian LNG front-month prices regained a premium over theDutch front-month price this week for the first time sincemid-March. However, the premium was still too small to open thearbitrage between Pacific and Atlantic basins and incentivisespot trade of Atlantic cargoes into Asia.(Reporting by Ekaterina Kravtsova; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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