Review of natural gas and LNG prices

by Editor

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The Northeast Asian assessed spot LNG price JKM (March delivery) for last week (20 – 24 January) rose to high-USD 13s on 24 January from mid-USD 13s the previous weekend (17 January). JKM rose to high-USD 14s in the first half of the week due to rising global gas prices, but fell to the high-USD 13s in the weekend as sluggish demand in Northeast Asia remained unchanged.

METI announced on 22 January that Japan’s LNG inventories for power generation as of 19 January stood at 2.32 million tonnes, up 0.21 million tonnes from the previous week.

The European gas price TTF (February delivery) for last week (20 – 24 January) rose to USD 15.3/MBtu on 24 January from USD 14.2/MBtu the previous weekend (17 January). TTF rose due to the possibility of new subsidies for underground storage announced by Germany’s Trading Hub Europe on 21 January.

It then weakened due to stable supplies and mild weather, but rose again in the weekend due to forecasts of lower temperatures. According to AGSI+, the EU-wide underground gas storage was 56.5% on 24 January, down to less than 60% from 61.7% at the end of the previous weekend.

The U.S. gas price HH (February delivery) for last week (20 – 24 January) rose to USD 4.0/MBtu on 24 January from USD 3.9/MBtu the previous weekend (17 January). The impact of the approaching cold wave has boosted heating demand, but price increase has been limited by reduced feed gas flows to major U.S. liquefaction terminals, including the shutdown of Freeport LNG on 21 January.

The EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report released on 23 January showed U.S. natural gas inventories as of 17 January at 2,892 Bcf, down 223 Bcf from the previous week, down 1.9% from the same period last year, and 0.7% increase over the five-year average. This marks the second consecutive week of a decrease of more than 200 Bcf.

Updated: January 27

Source: JOGMEC

Review of natural gas and LNG prices – January 27

Europe’s exposure to a wild and volatile global gas market