--DES Northeast Asia

Kansai EPC is believed to have recently purchased one cargo of LNG for delivery in this winter. According to the company, this procurement is merely part of its trading activities, and there are no issues with the overall LNG supply and demand. Kansai EPC has a long-term contract to receive 500,000mt annually from the 77 mil mt/year Ras Laffan project in Qatar, and there are no disruptions to its overall LNG procurement. The company also has no plans to change its power generation mix. Meanwhile, among Japanese utilities, Tohoku EPC--which tends to take short positions--is expected to have demand for approximately one LNG cargo for prompt delivery.

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

State-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC) procured one cargo for delivery to the 22.5 mil mt/year Dahej terminal during May 15-25 at $19.00-19.20 in a DES-based buy tender closed on Apr 7. In addition, state-owned Bharat Petroleum Co (BPCL) also picked up one cargo for delivery to India between Apr 15 and May 15 at $17.70-17.80 through a DES-based buy tender that closed on Apr 7.

--FOB Atlantic, DES Europe and South America

In the DES Europe market, a deal was clinched for mid-May delivery. The price was at a discount of 41-46cts to the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) natural gas quotes for May. After the deal, discussions for first-half and second-half May delivery apparently took place at discounts of 40-50cts to the quotes. A Japanese analyst noted, "The price gap between first-half and second-half May delivery could have flipped into contango by a few cents." Meanwhile, tradable levels for June loading were seen at discounts of 30-40cts to the TTF quotes for June..