* U.S. producers sign deals on Brent and JKM basis
* Record LNG supply growth expected globally this year
* Banks getting more supportive of JKM-linkedpricing-Tellurian
By Jessica Jaganathan and Meng Meng
SINGAPORE/SHANGHAI, April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. producers ofliquefied natural gas (LNG) are wooing buyers with offers tosell gas priced against benchmarks other than U.S. domesticprices, ahead of an expected flood of supplies on global marketsthis year.
The United States, the world's fastest growing gas exporterthanks to surging output from shale fields, is set to become theworld's third-largest LNG exporter this year, taking on moreestablished suppliers such as Qatar and Australia.
U.S. producers only began exporting LNG in early 2016 andtypically price their sales against U.S. domestic benchmarkssuch as Henry Hub.
To stand out, at least two developers of new U.S. terminalshave signed binding and non-binding deals using alternativepricing, executives said on the sidelines of the LNG2019conference in Shanghai this week.
On Wednesday, Tellurian Inc and French oil and gasmajor Total SA signed a deal that includes bothcompanies entering into a binding agreement for 1.5 milliontonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG from Tellurian, which isdeveloping the Driftwood LNG project in Louisiana.
The price was based on Platts Japan Korea Marker (JKM),which is a fast-developing Asian benchmark for LNG though mainlyfor spot cargoes. Most LNG contracts in Asia are still pricedoff Brent crude.
Tellurian and commodities trader Vitol have also signed amemorandum of understanding for long-term LNG supply priced offJKM.
"I believe LNG is moving (towards) a gas index," saidTotal's chief executive Patrick Pouyanne.
"Gas linked to oil is old world and we have seen in the pasttwo years the JKM-linked market is growing," he added.
Banks are also getting more supportive of JKM-linked pricingfor the sale of LNG cargoes, said Tellurian's chief executiveMeg Gentle.
NextDecade Corp, which is developing the Rio GrandeLNG export project in Brownsville, Texas, said on Tuesday it hassigned a 20-year binding sales and purchase agreement (SPA) withRoyal Dutch Shell for two million tonnes a year of LNG, which itsaid was first U.S. long-term contract indexed to Brent.
Three quarters of the LNG will be indexed to Brent crude oilprices and the remaining volumes will be indexed to domesticU.S. gas price markers, including Henry Hub, the company said.
NextDecade is also offering its potential buyers LNG pricedon other U.S. gas indexes such as Agua Dulce and Waha.
"U.S. gas producers may be willing to take exposure to oillinked LNG netback pricing compared with the depressed U.S. gasprices seen lately," said Saul Kavonic, a Credit Suisse analyst.
Next-day natural gas prices at the Waha hub in West Texasplunged to negative levels in late March, but have recoveredslightly since. <NG-WAH-WTX-SNL>(Reporting by Meng Meng and David Stanway in SHANGHAI andJessica Jaganathan in SINGAPORE; editing by Richard Pullin)
