--DES Northeast Asia
DES Northeast Asia prices slid last week. Prices for first-half March delivery were $4.75-5.05. Spot demand was thin on the back of warm winter and economic slowdown. Buying interest thin, was only some end-users such as Korean companies moving on spot purchase. In China, the Lunar New Year holidays would start on Jan 24 and three state-owned companies including China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) were canceling the intake of cargoes due to high stocks. On the other hand, supply was ample. Russia's Sakhalin Energy closed a sell tender on Jan 15 for one cargo each loading Feb 26 and Feb 28 from the 10.80 mil mt/year Sakhalin 2 project while Brunei LNG closed a sell tender on Jan 17 for two cargoes loading from the 7.10 mil mt/year Brunei project during Mar 12-15 and Mar 30-31. Furthermore, sell tenders were issued from Papua New Guinea and Ichthys LNG for February to March loading cargoes.

--FOB Middle East, DES South Asia and the Middle East
Spot demand from Pakistan was on the decline. State-run Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) secured a Feb 16-17 delivery cargo from PetroChina Co Ltd through a tender closed on Dec 17. But PLL intended not to buy March delivery cargoes as of the end of last week. In Pakistan, while demand from city gas companies was brisk, several new coal-fired thermal power stations got online and a total of four to five new coal-fired thermal power stations would start power generation in 2021. In addition, rainfall was reportedly higher than usual in areas including its capital Islamabad and hydropower generation was high. Therefore, gas-fired power generation, consuming LNG, was not increasing.

--FOB Atlantic, DES Europe and South America
Russia's Novatek was moving to sell cargoes from the 16.50 mil mt/year Yamal project. Compared to the production volume, sales volumes under long-term contracts were low and Novatek frequently has excess supply. Novatek aimed to sell cargoes for April to August loading with a maximum of one cargo per month. Some cargoes might be sold on a DES basis. Summer cargoes could be sold to Asia via the Arctic Sea route.