Japan’s LNG spot prices sink to two-year low on fears of oversupply
TOKYO (Reuters) -- Liquefied natural gas (LNG) spot prices for delivery in January to Japan, the world's biggest buyer, fell to its lowest since the trade ministry started publishing figures about two years ago, official data showed this week.
The average price for cargoes contracted during the month was $7.10/MMBtu, down 30 cents from the previous month and marking the lowest in data going back to March 2014, the trade ministry said.
The average price for cargoes arriving in Japan during January edged up to a three-month high of $7.90/MMBtu, up 40 cents from the previous month.
Asian LNG prices sank to below $5/MMBtu late last month as Japan struggled with surplus stock and Chevron's new Gorgon project neared start-up, which will feed into an already oversupplied market.
The ministry surveys spot LNG cargoes bought by Japanese utilities and other importers, while excluding cargo-by-cargo deals linked to benchmark prices such as the US natural gas Henry Hub index.
It only publishes a price if there is a minimum of two eligible cargoes reported by buyers. Prices are converted to a delivery-ex ship basis.
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