The Asian Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) market experienced a decline in prices this week, which spurred opportunistic buying activity from some Asian importers.
The lower prices presented an attractive opportunity for these importers to secure LNG cargoes at a more favorable cost, potentially leading to increased imports in the near term.
“The drop was driven by softer downstream demand, though supply disruptions in Australia and Brunei slowed further drops in prices,” said Masanori Odaka, Rystad Energy’s senior analyst.
While some Asian importers moved quickly to lock in lower prices, others remained cautious amid market uncertainty, partly fueled by renewed concerns over trade tensions, as well as comfortable storage levels.
Despite unplanned outages in Norway, European LNG prices fell. US feedgas demand stayed strong as Calcasieu Pass started commercial operations, and this also contributed to the dip in LNG prices.
Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) June prices fell 2.4% to $11.4 per MMBtu, while Asian LNG derivatives prices for June decreased by 2% week-on-week to $11.4 per MMBtu on April 15.
Asia
The settlement price for Asian LNG in May was around $12.5 per MMBtu, according to Rystad Energy. This represents an 8.7% decrease from April 2025 prices, but a 29% increase compared to May 2024, the agency noted.
Some importers, including Korea Gas Corporation (Kogas), a Chinese importer not affiliated with a national oil company, and CPC Corporation, secured May-June cargoes at or below $11 per MMBtu.
The LNG market is bustling with activity from various Asian countries.
South Korea’s Kogas is on the lookout for more LNG to be delivered between June 2025 and March 2026.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s RPGCL has already secured LNG cargoes for delivery on May 15-16 and May 25-26. India’s GSPC was also in the market, searching for an LNG cargo to be delivered between May 10-31, Rystad said.
The Brunei LNG facility, a joint venture between the Brunei government, Shell, and Mitsubishi, experienced a supply disruption on April 11.
“Mild weather forecasts in the shoulder-month period will likely limit gas consumption in East Asian countries for the remainder of April,” Odaka said.
Day-ahead power prices in Japan for April 17 have decreased approximately 40% compared to last week.
This coincides with a significant amount of planned maintenance in Japan across all fuel types, which will reduce available capacity by 18% in April and 15% in May compared to March 2025.
Europe
European LNG prices decreased by 1.5% week-over-week to around $10.6 per MMBtu, maintaining an 80 to 90 cent discount to TTF prices.
The US Dollar Index dropped below 100 for the first time since July 2023, indicating a relative strengthening of the Euro and a basket of other currencies against the US Dollar.
Odaka added:
This may lead to different directions of gas prices, such as TTF, depending on whether they are USD or Euro-denominated, along with further clarity on European policy on storage targets.
Europe saw an 8.6% increase in overall gas flows, reaching 329.4 million cubic meters on April 14.
This occurred despite unplanned outages at Aasta Hansteen, Dvalin, and Troll in Norway, which threatened supply disruptions. Underground storage levels also rose by 2.2% to 40.5 billion cubic meters, but remain 45% lower than last year, Rystad noted.
“Most market participants with US-origin LNG volumes point their LNG cargoes to Europe, though volatility in the market and changing cross-basin spread may lead to these market participants redirecting their cargoes to Asia instead,” Odaka said.
United States
On 15 April, the benchmark Henry Hub prices fell 3.8% week-on-week to $3.3 per MMBtu. At the time of writing, the price was at $3.255 per MMBtu, up 0.3%.
Feedgas levels to US LNG terminals rose by 6.6%, reaching approximately 16.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd) between April 8 and 14, Rystad Energy’s data showed.
The global LNG market’s supply constraints were further eased by Venture Global’s commencement of commercial operations at Calcasieu Pass LNG in Louisiana, despite the project’s prior sale of several cargoes on the spot market.
“Several regions in the US forecast above-average temperatures until late April, applying downward pressure for gas prices, though this will be offset by high feedgas levels to US LNG terminals,” Odaka noted.
The post Asian importers buy the dip as LNG market sees price corrections appeared first on Invezz