--DES Northeast Asia

　 Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) was believed to have procured a total of about 15 cargoes behind the scenes for arrival in winter. Considering that Japanese players held many cargoes in hand, an overseas trader said, "Estimating that about 10 cargoes were in surplus in Japan, the net increase would be about five cargoes." The player said that this would cap upside in the market. In China, most end-users retreated to the sidelines ahead of the National Day Holiday.

　 State-owned PetroVietnam Gas purchased a partial cargo for Oct 23-30 delivery to the 1.10 mil mt/year Thi Vai terminal via a DES based buy tender closed last Monday. The company also floated a fresh buy tender to be closed last Friday. The company plans to buy one partial cargo for Nov 7-11 delivery to the Thi Vai terminal. In Sarawak state in Malaysia where the 29.30 mil/year Bintulu project is located, a plan to deploy the Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) was ongoing. Malaysia plans to increase imports of LNG to fulfill domestic gas demand, according to a market source.

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

　 State-run Oman LNG closed a DES-based sell tender on Sep 30 for loading from the Oman project (11.4 mil mt/year). Delivery dates were heard to be Jan 14-16 for Northeast Asia and Jan 4-6 for India's west coast. The results had yet to be reported. This marks its first sell tender since Aug 13.

--FOB Atlantic, DES Europe and South America

　 For DES Europe, on a floating basis, one cargo for second-half November delivery was traded at a discount of 50cts to the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) natural gas quotations for November. For second-half October delivery, discussions took place at discounts on either side of 40cts to the TTF quotations for October.