--DES Northeast Asia

In Japan, the amount of rainfall was still limited especially in western Japan although the rainy season had arrived. The amount of rainfall in the past 30 days decreased by 75% in Fukuoka city, 54% in Matsuyama city in Ehime and 55% in Hiroshima city compared to normal. Under this situation, restrictions on water intake were imposed at several dams such as the Ishitegawa dam in Matsuyama city and concerns of a shortage of water for industrial use were heightening. If water scarcity for industrial use at coal-fired power plants was prolonged, cooling water for use at condensers at power generation facilities might be in shortage and it might be difficult to raise operating rates of the facilities. Therefore, more sources were concerned about high dependency on LNG-fired power generation facilities. Moreover, a Japanese company pointed out, "In Western Japan and Eastern Japan including Kanto, temperatures are expected to remain high for the time being amid limited rainfall. There is a strong likelihood that the rainy season might be over at the end of June." Shikoku Electric Power Co skipped spot purchase for summer delivery at the moment and Kyushu Electric as well as Chugoku Electric also refrained from buying spot cargoes. A trader with spot cargoes on hand, however, said, "Spot demand from Japan might increase significantly in the future."

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

ADNOC LNG in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) opened a sell tender closed on Jun 24 for 12 cargoes loading from the 5.60 mil mt/year Das Island project during January 2023 to December 2024. The company could accept bids on both an FOB and a DES basis at prices linked to the Brent crude oil market. ADNOC LNG had requested expression of interest (EOI) closed on Jun 9 for a cargo each month for April to September 2023 and February, April, and June to September 2024. The company reportedly moved to sell forward loading cargoes as term contracts of three years which started in March 2019 with several players including JERA had expired in March this year.

--FOB Atlantic, DES Europe and South America

BP declared force majeure on LNG supply from the 15.00 mil mt/year Freeport project where operations were halted due to a fire that had occurred on Jun 8. The company holds equity over the 5.00 mil mt/year No. 2 liquefaction train at the project and also receives term cargoes of 4.40 mil mt/year.