CEDIGAZ’s Monthly LNG Trade Bulletin of May 2015

This blog post analyses the main findings of the LNG Monthly Bulletin. The LNG Monthly Bulletin provides monthly traded volumes and prices by importer and country of origin, it is part of the LNG Service by Cedigaz.

Asian LNG market is easing

Asian LNG market is easingIn Asia, LNG purchases of the regional top-3 buyers (Japan, South Korea and China) decreased by 5.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2015. Imports fell from 42 million tons to 39.7 million tons, pulled by a 19% drop in South Korea (-2.4 million tons) where higher inventories and another mild winter pushed imports down. Lower demand for natural gas was highlighted by the drop in KOGAS’ domestic sales (-7.6%), mainly due to a fall in sales to the power sector (-14.3%).

In China, imports declined by 8.6% from 5.6 million tons to 5.1 million tons while in Japan, LNG purchases grew slightly from 23.7 million tons in Q1 2014 to 24.3 million tons in Q1 2015, even though mild temperatures cut total power demand.

2014: A SECOND YEAR OF MODERATE GROWTH OF GLOBAL GAS ACTIVITY

2014 has been a very mixed year for natural gas, according to the First Estimates 2014 released by the International Association CEDIGAZ today. For the second consecutive year, gas demand slowed down in 2014, with subdued activity in the global gas industry at all stages of the chain.

Top1 consumming countriesGlobal natural gas consumption (including storage variations) was sluggish in 2014 and remained at a quite similar level than in 2013. This can be explained by increased competition between energies, especially coal, the economic slowdown (Europe, China, Russia…), geopolitical turmoil (Russia-Ukraine conflict) and the mild weather conditions which negatively impacted the expansion of gas demand (Europe, Asia). The global consumption trend showed regional disparities. Natural gas demand in North America and the Middle East continued to register strong expansion, but the growth in Asia slowed down, while consumption in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Europe declined dramatically. Plummeting consumption in Europe (- 10%) in particular weighed significantly on the overall trend.

CEDIGAZ’s Monthly LNG Trade Bulletin of April 2015

In Asia, LNG prices are declining

Asian LNG imports and pricesIn Asia, LNG imports decreased in February, as they did last year at the same period. China, Japan and South Korea imported 12.5 million tons compared to 14.7 million tons in January 2015. February year-on-year demand in these countries fell by 5.1% overall: the drop was pulled by a 25.6% decline in South Korean imports while Chinese’s grew by 10.9% and Japanese’s by 2.9%. As a consequence of the easing on Asian markets and the fall in oil prices, import prices continued to dwindle: they reached $13.3/mmbtu in Japan (including trades below $10/mmbtu), $10.4/mmbtu in China and $13.5 in South Korea. February prices represented a 20% year-on-year drop in Japan and South Korea and a fall of 11% in China.