Japanese LNG stocks down 9.1%, bullish market factor
LNG cargoes rerouted from Asia to Europe amid weak demand
EU gas demand steady despite low storage, cold March risk
By Marwa Rashad
LONDON, Feb 13 - Asia spot liquefied natural gas fell slightly this week, amid a drop in Japanese inventories, while overall demand remains weak ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
The average LNG price for March delivery into north-east Asia was estimated at $10.65 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), compared with $10.70/mmBtu in the previous week, industry sources said.
The price for April delivery was estimated at $10.45/mmBtu.
“Gradually milder weather over the coming weeks in Asia seems to signal that the winter has left the continent for now,” said Klaas Dozeman, market analyst at Brainchild Commodity Intelligence.
“With the downbeat economic data in China and the Lunar New Year around the corner, portfolio managers were short of arguments to act on the market. It is hence not surprising that a couple of cargoes left the continent for destinations elsewhere,” he added.
The LNG tanker Seapeak Glasgow has reloaded a cargo from Ningbo in China and is heading for Europe. This would be the first reload from China to Europe since early 2022, when the Gaslog Singapore took one to Italy’s Adriatic LNG, said Alex Froley, senior LNG analyst at data intelligence firm ICIS.
Annemarie Pettinato, deputy head of pricing at Argus, said that Japanese stocks were down 9.1% over the course of a week as of February 12, which has been seen as a bullish factor in the market, adding that some disruptions emerged in the north island Hokkaido as its 250 megawatt (MW) oil-fired unit is offline in an unplanned outage, which could further increase gas-burn.
In Europe, wholesale gas prices at the Dutch TTF hub traded in a narrow range on Friday ahead of a drop in temperatures over the weekend.
“With EU storages at seasonably low level, demand is almost guaranteed throughout the summer, especially as Northwest Europe cannot afford a very cold March to avoid critically low storage levels,” Dozeman said.
ICIS’ Froley said that a high number of unusual cargo movements emerged following the recent cold snap in the U.S: “Vessels have been drawn from the Pacific to the Atlantic along new routes to re-balance the global market.”
S&amp;P Global Energy assessed its daily Northwest Europe LNG Marker (NWM) price benchmark for cargoes delivered in March on an ex-ship (DES) basis at $10.113/mmBtu on February 12, a $1.25/mmBtu discount to the price at the TTF hub.
Argus assessed it at $10.380/mmBtu, while Spark Commodities assessed the price at $10.377/mmBtu.
“Continued availability of waterborne supply, supported by steady U.S. feedgas flows, kept downward pressure on LNG prices and reinforced the bearish narrative around near-term supply,” said Aly Blakeway, manager of Atlantic LNG at S&amp;P Global Energy.
The U.S. front-month arbitrage to north-east Asia via the Cape of Good Hope has narrowed further but is still pointing U.S. prompt cargoes to Europe, said Spark Commodities analyst Qasim Afghan.
In Global LNG freight, the Atlantic rates hit its largest weekly gain in 9 weeks, at $22,500/day, and Pacific rates fell for the 10th week running to $28,250/day, Afghan said.

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GLOBAL LNG-Asia LNG prices edge down ahead of Lunar New Year holiday