--DES Northeast Asia

In the DES Northeast Asia(NEA) market last week, the front delivery fell to around $11.00. Prices fell on the weak Netherlands' TTF market, but low prices have stimulated some demands from Northeast Asia.

Seeing falls in prices, end-users, such as ones from South Korea, have started buying in the spot market. In addition to the procurement of June delivery by GS Energy and POSCO( a major steel company), Korea Midland Power Co(KOMIPO), Korea Southern Power Co Ltd(KOSPO) and Prism Energy under SK E&S have been jointly floating a buy tender, as reported. Amid this, Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) appeared to have been looking for two cargoes for May and June delivery. "The KOGAS's move comes from the necessity to refill its inventory as well as affordable market," a Japanese company said.

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

OQT, a trading subsidiary of the Oman state-run oil company OQ, on Apr 30 inked a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Amigo LNG in Mexico for a long-term contract of LNG. Under the SPA, OQT would receive 0.6 mil mt/year of LNG from the 7.80 mil mt/year Amigo project for 15 years starting somewhere between April and June 2028.

--FOB Atlantic, DES Europe and South America

Lowering the target of the natural gas inventory standard from 90% full to 83% by the European Union weakened natural gas prices. "The European Parliament will probably adopt the target officially," a Japanese company said. Higher than normal temperature in the region played a part in bearish sentiment.