The Northeast Asian assessed spot LNG price JKM (October delivery) for last week (18 – 22 August) rose to high-USD 11s/MBtu on 22 August from low-USD 11s/MBtu the previous weekend (15 August, September delivery). JKM temporarily fell to the lowest level since late April as supply in Asia remained ample and demand subdued, but turned upward in the latter half of the week due to uncertainty over ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
On the demand side, while Chinese inventories remained high, there were indications that Japanese buyers might become active in procurement due to hot weather and outages at nuclear power plant. METI announced on 20 August that Japan’s LNG inventories for power generation as of 17 August stood at 2.01 million tonnes, up 0.05 million tonnes from the previous week.
The European gas price TTF (September delivery) for last week (18 – 22 August) rose to USD 11.4/MBtu on 22 August from USD 10.6/MBtu the previous weekend (15 August).
TTF was stable in the first half of the week due to cooler temperatures and ample supplies from Norway, but rose in the latter half of the week on the back of reduced gas flows from the UK to continental Europe, lower LNG regasification volumes, and supply reductions caused by summer maintenance in the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
According to AGSI+, the EU-wide underground gas storage was 75.3% on 22 August, up from 73.3% the previous weekend, down 17.1% from the same period last year, and down 8.7% over the five-year average.
The U.S. gas price HH (September delivery) for last week (18 – 22 August) fell to USD 2.7/MBtu on 22 August from USD 2.9/MBtu the previous weekend (15 August). HH was generally on a downward trend throughout the week, weighed down by reduced feed gas demand due to temporary suspensions at several U.S. LNG terminals and unusually cool weather conditions.
The EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report released on 21 August showed U.S. natural gas inventories as of 15 August at 3,199 Bcf, up 13 Bcf from the previous week, down 2.9% from the same period last year, and 5.8% above the five-year average.
Updated: August 25
Source: JOGMEC
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