Global LNG Prices Hold Steady in Weak Trade

Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices were little changed on Friday as mild demand and the extended holiday period kept a lid on trading activity.

 

The spot price for February was steady at about $10.10 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), in line with the previous week. Traders said, however, that prices were nominal given there was limited activity.

 

Brazil's state-run energy giant Petrobras has shown interest in purchasing spot cargoes, one trader said, but high inventories across Asia have kept buyers on the sidelines there.

 

There were early signs of demand for cargoes delivering in March, the source said.

 

The LNG market has been slowly declining since September as energy prices generally have been hit by a slide in oil. Brent crude held near its weakest level in more than five years on Friday, as a global supply glut and weak demand weighed.

 

Excelerate Energy's Texan liquefied natural gas terminal plan has become the first victim of an oil price slump threatening the economics of U.S. LNG export projects.

 

The floating 8 million tonne per annum (mtpa) export plant moored at Lavaca Bay, Texas, planned by Houston-based Excelerate, has been put on hold, according to regulatory filings seen by Reuters.

 

Excelerate's move may bode ill for 13 other U.S. LNG projects, which have also not signed up enough international buyers to reach final investment decisions (FID). Only Cheniere's Sabine Pass and Sempra's Cameron LNG projects have hit that milestone.

 

LNG cargoes stored at some European terminals, such as in Spain, were slowly being regasified and fed into local grids as weak global demand for the fuel slowed the pace of re-exports.

 

Egypt signed a deal on Monday to import six LNG cargoes from Algeria between April and September, the oil ministry said in a statement, as it seeks to ease a chronic energy shortage.

 

And Britain's BG Group is preparing to deliver a first commercial LNG cargo to China from its new $20.4 billion Queensland Curtis LNG project in Australia.

 

BG's Methane Mickie Harper is still being loaded with the inaugural cargo at Queensland Curtis, according to ship-tracking data on Reuters Eikon.