SINGAPORE, Nov. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Prices of
December-delivered shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in
Asia rose 4% to $13.529 per million British thermal units
(/MMBtu), according to the latest monthly Platts Japan/Korea Marker
(JKM). Platts is a leading global energy, petrochemicals and
metals information provider and a premier source of benchmark price
references. This follows a 0.3% increase for November-delivered
shipments.
"Despite more limited demand in North
Asia, spot prices were lifted by the shift from an
oversupplied market to a balanced one," said Sarah Cottle, Platts editorial director of
power. "Production issues at several companies, Yemen LNG, Nigeria
LNG and Indonesia's Tangguh LNG,
along with the fact that Angola LNG was still yet to come online,
had a tightening effect on available supplies."
The Platts JKM is an assessment of LNG prices for physical spot
cargoes delivered to Japan and
South Korea, based on the most
recent trades and/or bids and offers from buyers and sellers in the
open market prevailing at the close of the trading day. The monthly
JKM assessments reflect prices for month-ahead delivery and are an
average of the daily JKM price assessments reported by Platts.
On a year-over-year comparison, prices of cargoes for December
delivery were down 22% from the same period of 2011. The
December-delivery value of Platts JKM is the monthly average of
daily values assessed from October 16
through November 15. This marks the fourth month of
consecutive declines on a year-over-year basis, with the Platts JKM
having recorded its first ever year-over-year decline in
September 2012.
"Demand was much weaker than a year ago," Cottle explained, "as
Japanese power generators have now secured more gas on short- and
medium-term contracts for gas-fired power plants, replacing nuclear
generation that was taken offline after the Fukushima
disaster."
Meanwhile, the prices of LNG substitute fuels – thermal coal and
fuel oil, which are commonly burnt by Asian utilities – dropped 3%
and 4% respectively for the month.
Platts
Spot JKM and Substitute Fuel Prices (Monthly
Averages)*
|
|
|
Dec-12
|
Dec-11
|
Nov-12
|
Year-On-Year
Change %
|
Month-On-Month
Change %
|
JKM
($/MMBtu)
|
13.53
|
17.38
|
13.00
|
-22.17
|
4.03
|
Qinhuangdao coal
($/MMBtu)
|
4.35
|
5.44
|
4.46
|
-20.17
|
-2.63
|
180 CST
fuel oil
($/MMBtu)
|
16.27
|
18.06
|
16.99
|
-9.95
|
-4.24
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
* Platts JKM rolls to the next forward month on the
16th of each calendar month
Source: Platts
For more information on natural gas or the methodology used by
Platts in its natural gas assessments, visit the Platts website
www.platts.com.
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SOURCE Platts