--DES Northeast Asia
DES Northeast Asia spot market slightly increased. Prices for mainly discussed first-half September delivery were at $2.30-2.40, up 20cts from early July. A sense of shortage was observed since troubles and a delay in resumption of supply occurred at several projects. Regular maintenance was prolonged from mid-July at the 16.50 mil mt/year Gorgon project and pipeline troubles happened at the 28.00 mil mt/year Bintulu project in Malaysia. But spot demand was not brisk. Only Chinese independent players including JOVO were moving to buy. Demand from Japanese end-users was also limited. In Japan, temperatures remained below normal due to a long spell of rain from late June and demand for air-conditioning use did not increase. Further, the economy had not fully recovered owing to the COVID-19 outbreak. For these reasons, many power and gas companies saw their sales fall about 10% from plan.

--FOB Middle East, DES South Asia and the Middle East
While LNG intake by Indian end-users increased, spot demand was not rising sharply. State-owned Petronet imported about 750,000mt of LNG at the 17.50 mil mt/year Dahej terminal in April immediately after a lockdown was implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This was half the level of the same period last year. In May, imports were at around 1.00 mil mt, down 30% on year. Nevertheless, imports in June recovered to slightly below 1.60 mil mt/year, almost the same level as the same period last year. Imports were not expected to drop in July as well. In India, four companies including Petronet had declared force majeure on LNG intake at the end of March. Some long-term cargoes were canceled with the intake of many cargoes was postponed. Many cargoes that were postponed would be supplied during June to September. As a result, the four companies including Petronet, GAIL, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) and Adani Group were expected to focus on taking these cargoes going forward.

--FOB Atlantic, DES Europe and South America
Argentina's state-run YPF declared force majeure on LNG shipments from the 500,000mt/year Tango LNG project where it is the operator. It seemed that such moves came as gas consumption in Argentina was firm in the middle of a high-demand winter season in the southern hemisphere.