Asia

Shipping congestion that has slowed passage through the Panama Canal since last year amid strong demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other goods between Asia and the United States has finally eased, after wait times peaked at 16 days for vessels with unreserved slots.  The historic cold that left Asian inventories depleted last winter…

A breakneck rally in European natural gas prices continued Wednesday, propelling benchmarks on the continent to abnormally high premiums above those in Asia and creating massive arbitrage opportunities for U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.  Dutch front-month futures have gained about $10/MMBtu over the last week. The January Title Transfer Facility (TTF) contract finished nearly…

Egypt is moving forward with its plans to become a regional natural gas hub as its two liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants are running at full capacity for the first time in more than a decade.   Egypt’s Petroleum Minister Tarek El Molla told news media at the East Mediterranean Gas Forum last month that the…

Natural gas prices in Europe and Asia soared Monday as supply concerns deepened and the regions are seen competing for liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes beyond the winter. British and Dutch front-month futures gained nearly $3 each to finish above $38/MMBtu, hitting levels not seen in months. Asian spot prices, meanwhile, gained almost $2 to…

Asian liquefied natural gas (LNG) offtakers that have contracts with Malaysia’s state-owned Petroliam Nasional Berhad, aka Petronas, are looking to cover peak winter demand after cargoes were canceled and deferred from the Bintulu LNG complex in Sarawak.   With a colder-than-normal winter predicted for Asia, plus recent unplanned outages at  Australia’s Gorgon LNG and the Prelude…

EQT Corp. on Tuesday defended U.S. natural gas producers and argued for boosting exports in a lengthy rebuttal to claims last month by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) that “corporate greed and profiteering” are to blame for the sharp rise in energy prices this year. CEO Toby Rice sent a nine-page response to Warren’s Nov. 23…

Europe’s first cold snap of the season arrived over the weekend, further cutting into natural gas storage inventories and helping to push prices higher Monday.  Already low storage inventories on the continent were cut to 66.8% of capacity from 67.5%. Maxar’s Weather Desk said Monday that the one- to five-day timeframe shows wide-spread “below, much…

Natural gas prices in Asia and Europe moved higher Monday despite growing concerns over a new variant of Covid-19 that weighed on commodities late last week. A colder shift in the forecast and a reduction in pipeline imports in Europe were supporting prices as traders continue to monitor the potential impacts of the Omicron variant…

Global natural gas prices remained strong Tuesday as benchmarks in Europe and the United States bounced back amid a colder forecast and supply shortages that are seen keeping the market tight.  Dutch and British futures finished the day slightly higher, with the front-month contracts both settling above $30/MMBtu. In the United States, the prompt Henry…