--DES Northeast Asia

　 Market players were closely monitoring on a restart of exports from the 77.00 million mt/year Ras Laffan project by state-owner QatarEnergy and the arrival timing of cargoes to Northeast Asia. A trader in Asia expected Qatari cargoes to arrive in Northeast Asia from late August to September, which would increase a sense of oversupply for second-half August delivery or later. On the other hand, demand/supply fundamentals for first-half August delivery were relatively tight. Discussions for first-half August delivery were ongoing at a discount of 3cts to a premium of 2cts to DES Northeast Asia spot quotations among traders and portfolio players. European Vitol offered one cargo for second-half August delivery at around flat to the quotations. Meanwhile, QatarEnergy Trading (QET) posted an offer at a discount of 7cts to the quotations, showing that some bids and offers were reversed, depending on the arrival timing. QET posted an offer for first-half September delivery at a premium of 20cts to the September spot quotations. In the futures market, the September contract was way below the August contract, so that QET appeared to have posted the hefty premium, but buyers were cautious of entering discussions at the levels. Only European Glencore bid for a cargo of first-half September delivery at a discount of 2cts to the quotations. "There are many buyers, but they don't seem to be raising their bids. It looks as if they are waiting for sellers to make concessions," said a Japanese analyst. China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and China National Petroleum Corp (PetroChina)--both of which are believed to have secured multiple spot cargoes--are also said to have completed their procurement for prompt delivery.

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

　 State-run Oman LNG closed a DES-based sell tender on Jun 24. The tender was for one cargo from the 11.40 mil mt/year Oman project to be delivered to the Middle East or Asia on Aug 4-16. Oman LNG had conducted a DES-based sell tender that closed on Jun 3 for one cargo for Jul 31-Aug 2 delivery to Northeast Asia, but the results remained unclear.

--FOB Atlantic, DES Europe and South America

　Trinidad and Tobago's state-owned gas company (NGC) sold a combined two cargoes for August loading out of the 11.8 mil mt/year Atlantic project through an FOB-based tender closed on Jun 22. The loading dates for those cargoes were Aug 1 and Aug 23. British BP was said to have won either of the two cargoes at a discount of $1.00 to the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) natural gas quotations for August. The awarded price was initially heard at a discount of slightly deeper than 15cts to the quotations.