The Northeast Asian assessed spot LNG price JKM for the previous week (31 July – 4 August) rose to the high USD 11/MBtu on 4 August from the high USD 10s the previous week, with some ups and downs on the back of strong inventories and weak demand in Northeast Asia, but also driven by higher European gas prices.
LNG inventories in Japan and South Korea fell due to increased domestic demand for electricity in the heat wave.
According to a 2 August METI release, Japan’s LNG inventories for power generation totaled 1.93 million tonnes as of 30 July, down 0.06 million tonnes from the previous week, down 0.35 million tonnes from the end of the same month of last year and down 0.15 million tonnes from the average of the past five years.
The European gas price TTF rose to USD 9.2/MBtu on 31 July from USD 8.3/MBtu the previous week due to the heat wave in Southern Europe and other regions, as well as a contract month switch.
On 3 August, TTF rose to USD 9.8/MBtu amid rising supply concerns due to the extension of unplanned maintenance at the Troll gas field in Norway and the scheduled maintenance at the Bacton gas terminal in the UK but fell to USD 9.3/MBtu the following day.
ACER published the 4 August spot LNG assessment price for delivery in the EU at EUR 27.5/MWh (equivalent to USD 8.8/MBtu).
According to AGSI+, the European underground gas storage rate as of 4 August was 86.8%, up from 85.0% the previous week.
The U.S. gas price HH fell to USD 2.6/MBtu on 4 August from USD 2.6/MBtu the previous week, with some ups and downs.
According to the EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report released on 3 August, the U.S. natural gas underground storage on 28 July was 3,001Bcf, up 14Bcf from the previous week, up 22.4% from the same period last year, and up 12.0% from the historical five-year average.
Updated 7 August 2023
Source: JOGMEC
