--DES Northeast Asia

In the DES Northeast Asia market last week, the front delivery fell to around $14.30 in response to the decline in the Netherlands' TTF market, where a possible early end of the Ukraine war as well as rise in temperature in Europe weighed on prices.

The market has been on a downtrend across the vast area of Asia, including Northeast Asia, because of weak appetites from key players, such as China and India. "Traders report that importers from these nations remain hesitant to secure additional cargoes unless prices retreated to around $12," James Whistler, Managing Director at the Vanir Global Markets, said.

Hokkaido Gas issued a buy tender for the maximum seven years starting 2027 that would close on Mar 3. Sellers could choose some options when submitting offers, according to sources. As for the volume, sellers are required to offer two cargoes per year for April 2027 to March 2029 and three cargoes per year for April 2029 to March 2034. At the case where three cargoes per year are delivered, Hokkaido Gas wants to take one cargo per year in summer and two cargoes per year in winter, aiming to increase the intake volume during winter. The company is also said to hope offers based on Brent crude oil prices or Japan LNG Cocktail (JLC), an importing price of LNG into Japan.

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

AM/NS, a joint venture between a major European steel company, ArcelorMittal, and Nippon Steel, floated a buy tender for 3-5 years starting 2026, closing on Feb 27. AM/NS planned to buy an annual 6 cargoes, about 0.5 mil mt/year, through the tender. Nippon Steel has met hurdles to buy out US Steel, but "Its business in India has been solid, allowing LNG demand to be expected" (a Japanese company).

--FOB Atlantic, DES Europe and South America

The current temperatures in Northwest Europe have been hovering at 6-8 degrees Celsius, above 5 degrees of usual. Along with solid outputs from wind power plants in the UK and Germany, the operation of gas-fired power plants has been controlled at low levels. Moreover, a large inflow of LNG into Europe might slow down the decreasing pace of natural gas inventory, played a part in lowering prices.