YPF Buys Five LNG Cargoes

Argentina's state-controlled YPF has bought at least five cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for delivery between April and June, traders said on Friday.

Suppliers included Shell, EDF Trading, Petrobras, BP and Excelerate, traders said.

The purchases were the result of a tender by YPF last week to buy 11 shipments of LNG to partially cover its southern hemisphere winter needs.

Sales prices for the cargoes, which will be split between Argentina's two import terminals, achieved at least a $1 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) premium to Britain's National Balancing Point (NBP) gas hub price, traders said.

The UK gas price for April was trading at $6.74 per mmBtu on Friday, with May and June lower.

Reporting by Sarah McFarlane and Oleg Vukmanovic