--DES Northeast Asia

In the DES Northeast Asia market last week, due to the failure of ceasefire negotiations via call between the US and Russia for the Ukraine war, concerns about geopolitical risk flared up again, and the European natural gas market increased. In response to this, prices for July delivery climbed to a level slightly above $12.50. As a peace talk for the Ukraine War was stagnant, more sources proposed the view that the European Union (EU) might impose stricter sanction to Russia. On Tuesday, the UK and EU announced that additional sanction would be executed to "shadow fleets" that were illegally transporting energy resources including Russian crude as well as affiliated companies. The EU was also preparing for stronger sanctions, showing an attitude to confront Russia fiercely. In addition, there was a likelihood that sanction might be imposed onto Chinese companies that were importing natural gas from Russia, which generated concerns about tight supply/demand caused by alternative spot purchase by these Chinese companies. Nevertheless, spot demand for LNG seemed to be scarce in North China since gas demand was covered by pipeline gas although temperatures rose to about 40 degrees Celsius in some areas. In Japan, gas demand for air conditioning did not grow in early May with mild weather, leading to lower gas consumption somewhat compared to an original plan, according to a source. On the other hand, Korea Southern Power Co Ltd (KOSPO) floated a buy tender closing May 26 on a DES basis. Through the tender, KOSPO was looking for a cargo to be delivered to the terminal operated by Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) on Jul 4 or 5.

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

Bangladeshi state-run Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Ltd (RPGCL) had bought a cargo for Jul 2-3 delivery via its buy tender closed on May 18. The awardee was European Gunvor and the awarded price was at $12.228. On the other hand, with the monsoon season approaching, heavy rains were apparently recorded in southern India about a week earlier than normal. Under this situation, a Japanese company told that falling temperatures caused gas demand for power generation to drop. Nevertheless, heat waves continued in northwestern India such as New Delhi, and the daily highest temperature exceeded 40 degrees Celsius. Therefore, the Japanese company said, "Gas demand for power generation can be still expected."

--FOB Atlantic, DES Europe and South America

Angola LNG issued a tender to be closed on May 22 with a validity date of May 23 to sell cargo on a DES basis. Through the tender, Angola LNG planned to sell one cargo loading from the 5.20 mil mt/year Angola project to be delivered in June carried by the 174,000 cbm X-DF tanker, "Malaga Knutsen." The destination candidate includes South America, Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Northeast Asia. Taiwan is the most far-east area in the tender.