--DES Northeast Asia
DES Northeast Asia prices moved only slightly. Prices for mainly discussed second-half August delivery were at $2.10-2.20, which fell only 5cts from late June. Although buying inquiries emerged sporadically from independent companies in Korea and China, overall buying interest was thin. Some portfolio players including European traders were interested to buy to supply to long-term customers but no fresh deals were heard. Under this situation, Sakhalin Energy in Russia issued a DES-based sell tender closing Thursday for a cargo loading Aug 18 from the 10.80 mil mt/year Sakhalin 2 project. But many portfolio players refrained from selling actively.

--FOB Middle East, DES South Asia and the Middle East
Pakistan LNG (PLNG) moved to buy for delivery to the 5.60 mil mt/year GasPort terminal. PLNG earlier issued a buy tender closing Jul 27 for a cargo for Aug 27-28 delivery and another buy tender closing Aug 4 for a cargo for Sep 13-14 delivery and another for Sep 25-26 delivery. Daytime temperatures in summer began to exceed 35 degrees Celsius and demand for thermal power generation using LNG strengthened. In Pakistan, gas-fired thermal power generation accounts for 25% of the energy mix, exceeding the proportion of coal power generation recently.

--FOB Atlantic, DES Europe and South America
In the US, the 4.40 mil mt/year No.3 liquefaction train at the 13.20 mil mt/year Freeport project started operations in early May. France's Total and Korea's SK E&S are taking 2.20 mil mt/year from the No.3 train. SK E&S was said to have taken two cargoes each in May and June and received them at its 3.00 mil mt/year Boryeong terminal in South Korea.