--DES Northeast Asia

The DES Northeast Asia market surged on Friday with firm buying interest from traders and portfolio players. The second-half June delivery market climbed to the high $11's. Some traders and portfolio players with short-covering demand were actively buying spot cargoes for June delivery. European Vitol bought a cargo each for Jun 16-18 delivery and Jun 19-21 delivery at $12.00 from PetroChina Co Ltd. Vitol also bought a Jun 17-19 delivery cargo at a discount of 5cts to the July contract of DES Northeast Asia spot quotations from British Shell. British BP procured a Jun 13-15 delivery cargo at a discount of 11cts to the spot quotations from Shell as well. Discussion levels for first-half July delivery were also reported at a discount level to the spot quotations.

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

Bahrain Petroleum Co (Bapco) floated a buy tender on a DES basis. While the closing date was not heard, through the tender, Bapco planned to buy a total of three cargoes: delivery for Jun 1-10, for Jun 25-Jul 5, and for Jul 12-20. The buy tender marked the first time for Bapco to issue since August 2024. "The move may come from an increase in demand for summer," a Japanese company said.

--FOB Atlantic, DES Europe and South America

The European Parliament on May 8 officially decided to adopt the relaxation of the inventory standards of natural gas. Under the new standard, European countries are required to refill gas inventory to 83% of capacity at any time between October 1 and December 1, a loose standard compared with the former standard that required the country to refill 90% by November 1. Market participants, however, are paying more attention to the current discussion by Europe to phase out Russian gas , including LNG, imports by the end of 2027.