--DES Northeast Asia

　 Buying interest is not strong. One major public utility in eastern Japan has relatively high inventory levels, and with spot prices continuing to hover at high levels, the company intends to refrain from spot procurement as much as possible. JERA, through its trading subsidiary JERAGM, has expressed interest in purchasing cargoes for late November and early December delivery. But a market source noted, "This is strictly part of an optimization strategy and is not primarily driven by low inventory levels." Market sources also point out that the rise in temperatures earlier this week was a temporary phenomenon and will not lead to a sharp increase in actual demand. Meanwhile, in China, domestic onshore LNG prices by truck have risen to over 7,000 yuan per metric ton. China's overall LNG inventory is believed to be below the five-year average, and there appears to be room for procurement, particularly among state-owned energy companies. However, given that CNOOC and PetroChina are moving to sell in the spot market, the prevailing view is that they are not necessarily actively seeking to procure cargoes.

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

　 The Egyptian General Petroleum Corp (EGPC) floated a buy tender on a DES basis for five cargoes scheduled for delivery in November closing on Oct 26.

--FOB Atlantic, DES Europe and South America

　 State-owned Qatar Energy has signed a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) for LNG with U.S.-based Cheniere. Under this SPA, Qatar Energy (QE) will purchase 4 million metric tons annually on an FOB basis from the 30 mil mt/year Sabine Pass project and the Corpus Christi project with a maximum capacity of 25 mil mt/year over a super-long-term period spanning the early 2030s or from 2031 through 2054. QE also appears to be negotiating the purchase of 3 mil metric tons of LNG annually from Venture Global. These moves are seen as aimed at building the portfolio and strengthening its trading arm. A shipbroker noted, "QE may be required by major customers in the future to source LNG through a portfolio approach combining multiple sources rather than relying on a single source, so it appears necessary to secure supply sources in advance." A Japanese power utility stated, "Although the US is a competing supplier for QE, we view this contract as part of an expansion strategy to optimize the overall portfolio. The US LNG procured by QE will likely be destined primarily for Europe."