LNG Prices Under Pressure as Seasonal Demand Peaks

The spot market price of liquefied natural gas in Asia is on the decline amid signs that seasonal demand for the fuel is peaking.

Last week saw the first weekly decline in Asian spot LNG prices in a month, Reuters’ Clyde Russell reported, noting however that prices are still over 66% higher than they were at their trough this year in March.

The price of LNG for Asia last week stood at some $13.80 per million British thermal units, compared with $14.10 for the previous week, which was the highest price in eight months, and with $8.30 in early March.

Asia is the biggest import market for LNG featuring big buyers such as Japan, India, and China. China was the one that drove prices higher earlier in the year as greater demand for air-conditioning prompted higher demand for gas for generation. In China specifically, LNG demand is on the rise due to an accelerating switch from diesel to the cleaner fuel for trucks, earlier reports have suggested.

Reuters’ Russell quoted a Wood Mackenzie report that found LNG truck sales in China had risen from less than 10% of total sales to 30% of sales towards the end of 2023.

This month, Asian imports of liquefied natural gas are set to hit a total of 25.03 million metric tons, according to Kpler data cited by Reuters, which would be an increase from July’s 23.86 million tons.

China has imported an estimated 6.94 million tons this month, the highest monthly total since January and up from 5.91 million tons in July.

Japan, the second-largest LNG importer in the world, bought 5.83 million tons of the superchilled fuel this month, up from 5.45 million tons in July. South Korea’s LNG imports also rose in August, to an estimated 3.86 million tons, which was up from 3.16 million tons in July.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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