--DES Northeast Asia

In the DES Northeast Asia market last week, the front delivery rose to around $13.25 in response to the recovery of demand in the region.

Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) has shown a strong buying interest; the company was heard to have bought three April deliveries: Apr 1-8, 12-20, and 20-30 delivery. For delivery to Taiwan, CPC Corp purchased one cargo for late April-May delivery via a tender closed on Mar 11. For delivery to Japan, Osaka Gas appeared to have bought May delivery. Amid this, a power company in eastern Japan showed a positive stance for procurement by saying, "Given low temperatures being expected for a while as well as inventory withdrawal being proceeded, not a few end-users may have room to procure cargoes. Along with the decline in the spot market, the environment for spot buying to refill inventory is set."

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

Egypt has been proceeding with a plan to borrow a floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) from Germany. In response to the recent gas shortage, Egypt would sign a lease contract for the FSRU currently deployed at the 9.00 mil mt/year Mukran terminal in Germany to enhance the import capacity of LNG.

--FOB Atlantic, DES Europe and South America

ARC Resources in Canada on Mar 11 inked a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with US ExxonMobil for LNG loading from the 3.30 mil mt/year Cedar project. Under the deal, ARC would provide ExxonMobil with 1.5 mil mt/year of LNG, which corresponds to all the volume ARC receives from the project through feedgas inputs and the liquefaction process there.