Natural Gas News – May 31, 2023

Natural Gas News – May 31, 2023

USA LNG Exports Gaining More Market Share in 2023

LNG exports from the USA have become a main source of cargo demand for LNG shipping, as the country even managed to become the no1 exporter during the first four months of 2023, edging out Australia and Qatar. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that “global seaborne LNG trade has continued to surge last year, helped also by the events in Ukraine which forced Europe to diversify away from Russian pipeline gas. In the full 12 months of 2022, global shipments of LNG increased by +5.0% y-o-y to 404.3 mln t, based on Refinitiv vessel tracking data. By far the biggest increase in demand last year came from Europe. In Jan-Dec 2022, the European Union imported 100.9 mln tonnes of LNG, an increase of +68.9% y-o-y from the 59.7 mln tonnes imported in 2021. According to the shipbroker, “the EU27 now…

Plunging LNG Prices Have Traders Bracing for US Export

Cancellations Asian LNG spot prices are down more than 85% from last year’s record highs, falling to lows not seen since May 2021. European gas prices have slumped 70% over the past year. Traders gathered at an annual energy fair in Essen, Germany, this week debated whether slumping prices and lackluster demand could trigger a supply-side response. If prices fall further, it may not make economic sense to export LNG from the US – a reversal of the situation a year ago, when prices hit record highs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The market is “not that far from US LNG cargo cancellations,” Gyorgy Vargha, chief executive officer at Swiss trader MET International AG, said in an interview in Essen. “We are not that far away from the bottom.” Should steep declines continue, then by September — when …