--DES Northeast Asia
DES Northeast Asia prices rose. Sources reckoned that maintenance at the 16.50 mil mt/year Gorgon project in Australia might not finish in early September as currently scheduled. This might lead to additional demand for alternative cargoes to replace supply from Gorgon. Further, some traders continued to cover their short-positions and market sentiment strengthened. Sakhalin Energy was said to have awarded its sell tender closed on Wednesday to Royal Dutch Shell at $2.65-2.70. Further, PNGLNG in Papua New Guinea reportedly awarded its sell tender closed on Wednesday for a cargo loading Aug 27 to Britain's BP.

--FOB Middle East, DES South Asia and the Middle East
In India, lockdowns were lifted but economic activities were slow to restart. Further, many areas were experiencing higher rainfall than previous years and hydropower generation appeared to be high. As a result, few players moved on spot purchase. Further, demand going forward was uncertain as COVID-19 was still spreading and only Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) showed buying interest for forward cargoes. GSPC closed a buy tender on Thursday for one cargo each to be delivered during Oct 16-31, Nov 1-15 and Dec 1-15.

--FOB Atlantic, DES Europe and South America
In Europe, market players were expecting demand to increase toward the winter. Even from Northwest Europe where buying interest had been limited so far, more players were expecting demand to grow. Inventories at import terminals in Northwest Europe were generally high at present but more players were moving to secure space at import terminals to receive cargoes towards winter. Further, as the Netherlands' TTF market was in a steep contango, some players were looking for relatively cheap cargoes for August delivery.
GNL Chile moved to buy after a long interval. The company was scheduled to close a buy tender on Aug 4 for five cargoes to be delivered to the Quintero terminal in the first half of 2021. More precisely, the cargoes were to be delivered on Jan 25-Feb 15, Mar 1-21, Apr 3-23, May 5-25 and Jun 5-25.