--DES Northeast Asia

In the DES Northeast Asia market last week, the front delivery fell to around $15.00 in response to the weak Netherlands' TTF market, where profit-taking pushed the prices down. Amid this, Tohoku Electric Power Co moved to buy cargo.

Although the seller was unclear, a buy tender closed on Nov 27 by Tohoku Electric was reportedly awarded at a level just above $15.00 for a Jan 20-28 delivery cargo. An Asian trader commented, "As conditions such as spec and delivery window are lax, about 15 sellers participated in the tender."

The 4.90 mil mt/year Pluto project in Australia, where operations were halted early last week due to a glitch in the communication system, was expected to advance the restart from Dec 14 to Dec 1. Thus, sources pointed out that supply concerns were further receding since the impact on supply/demand and the market was minimized.

--FOB Middle East, DES South Asia and the Middle East

Israel and Hezbollah, an Islamic organization in Lebanon, have agreed on a ceasefire. In response to this, various opinions on the impact of the FOB Middle East market were heard. A Japanese company said, "While Israel clearly is not satisfied with the agreement, crude prices fall with easing tensions. In association with this, the agreement works to soften LNG prices." Toby Copson, an LNG consultant, gave a different view by saying, "The conflict premium has already been priced in, so I can't see much impact from a ceasefire."

--FOB Atlantic, DES Europe and South America

Brazilian Matrix Energia and French TotalEnergies inked a sales and purchase agreement of natural gas. Simultaneously, the Bolivian YPFB announced its approval to export Argentine natural gas to Brazil through the Bolivian pipeline. The deal marked the first case of Bolivia accepting transiting Argentine natural gas. Argentina would commence providing natural gas to Brazil from 2025; the flow of natural gas would grow to 30 million tons per day by 2030.