Japanese LNG Prices Ease

The average price of spot LNG imported into Japan that was contracted in March 2018 fell to $8.80/mn Btu, said the country's Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (Meti) April 10.

It had been $10.60/mn Btu in February and reached a high this winter in January 2018 of $11/mn, according to Meti. Its prices are ‘delivered ex ship’ in Japan, or else are converted into such a ‘DES’ equivalent.

Reports from the market, so not from Meti, indicate that spot cargoes in northeast Asia were being fixed this week for delivery in May 2018 at just above $7/mn Btu – so more than one dollar firmer than spot deliveries last May. The market remains firm, in part due to the continuing PNG LNG outage since late February caused by an earthquake there; an Exxon executive told Reuters it may restart early May.

Japan’s Meti also reported official average arrivals-based price each month for spot LNG cargoes. The latest April 10 figures show these eased to $10.20/mn Btu in March 2018 from $10.90/mn Btu the previous month, and $10.10/mn Btu for January 2018. Last year, Meti reported comparable prices of $7.70 for March, $8.80 for February and $7.30 for January for spot cargoes arriving those months.