Editor’s Note: This content is provided courtesy of Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (ICIS). Visit natgasintel.com/icis for more information.

LONDON (ICIS) — The long Easter break heightened the market’s volatility, with European gas prices crashing at the close on 14 April, only to firm on the market’s return on 19 April, supported by lower pipeline supply due to outages. 

Warmer temperatures have so far held further rises in check. Asian spot prices followed Europe to some extent, supported by south Asian demand from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. New Covid-19 lockdowns in Shanghai, coupled with warmer weather, are cutting China’s spot LNG demand.

The Middle East had an active week, with Kuwait issuing a buy tender for four cargoes, and Egypt looking to sell four.

Interest in new European floating storage regasification units (FSRUs) continued to build, especially from Germany.

Tenders Issued

State-owned Pakistan LNG issued a buy tender for a 1-2 May delivery to Port Qasim, closing on 21 April. Pakistan LNG is also due to close a separate six-cargo buy tender for delivery in May and June.

India’s GSPC put out a new buy tender for a cargo between 6-15 June. Offers are due by 21 April.

Bangladesh’s Petrobangla is seeking an 11-12 May cargo through a tender closing on 24 April. Offers will stay valid until 28 April.

In the Middle East, Kuwait’s KPC wants to buy four cargoes, for full-month delivery from May to August. 

Egypt’s EGAS issued a new sell tender for four May cargoes, closing on 26 April. It was unclear whether the cargoes would load from Damietta or Idku.

Pronounced Price Volatility 

The US Henry Hub futures front-month contract for May ‘22 closed at $7.18/MMBtu on 19 April, down a little more than 8% from the previous day in a volatile trading week before falling further. Supply concerns had caused the Henry Hub futures benchmark to surge but sell-off activity on 19 April brought down the contract price.

The ICIS TTF front month contract for May ’22 closed at $29.48/MMBtu on 19 April, up almost 5% from the previous close on 14 April, before the market closed for the Easter holiday. The TTF June ‘22 and July ’22 contracts also rose by 5% to settle at $29.56/MMBtu and $29.62/MMBtu. Prices have stayed around flat since.

European Imports

A premium has been placed on available FSRUs due to growing interest as importers pivot away from Russian pipe gas.

An FSRU tender was awarded by the German government to a shipping company for a fourth proposed terminal.

A total of 30 laden vessels have been confirmed to arrive in Europe for 21-27 April with an additional 12 predicted by ICIS LNG Edge algorithmic data. The combined total reveals that France will be the lead importer with 12 cargoes, followed by Spain with eight. The UK and Belgium will both likely receive seven laden vessels each.

Other Infrastructure

US Venture Global received approval to begin introducing hazardous fluids for its Block 6 liquefaction module at Calcasieu Pass. Calcasieu Pass has now loaded eight commissioning cargoes since the plant began producing LNG cargoes in early March.

Australian producer APLNG is planning a 0.5 train outage from 26-29 April. 

Shipping

LNG carrier rates remained flat with prompt TFDE rates in a range of $40,000-45,000/day.