Global competition for LNG intensifies on Russia supply cut
BNN Bloomberg
Russia’s latest move to cut natural gas supply to Europe is intensifying global competition for seaborne shipments of the fuel, threatening higher prices and shortages from Asia to South America.
Utilities in South Korea and Japan are accelerating plans to purchase more liquefied natural gas cargoes for winter out of fear that Europe will also hoard supply, according to traders with knowledge of the matter. Even some price-sensitive buyers in countries such as India and Thailand are looking to procure cargoes and avoid a shortage, traders said.
Russia’s Gazprom PJSC said it will reduce flows through the Nord Stream pipeline to Europe again this week, forcing the region’s buyers to find replacements like LNG. Spot prices of the super-chilled fuel, already trading at a seasonal high, are at risk of surging further as buyers in Europe and Asia move to outbid each other.
Traders estimate that North Asia spot LNG prices will rally to the mid-US$40 per million British thermal units level on Tuesday, the highest since early March shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine. There is a shrinking pool of available LNG through this winter amid supply disruptions from export facilities in Australia to the US.
