Agencies
SINGAPORE, Oct 8 — Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) prices for Asia escalated this week following world’s top buyer China faced an ongoing power crunch in addition of low inventory in Europe pushed up competition for the super-chilled fuel.
Average LNG price for November delivery into Northeast Asia was estimated at about $37 per metric million British thermal units (mmBtu), up nearly 16% from the previous week, industry sources said.
December delivery prices were estimated to be about $38 per mmBtu, they added.
Price agency S&P Global Platts’ Japan-Korea-Marker (JKM), which is widely used as a benchmark in the spot market, had surged to a record high of $56.326 per mmBtu on Wednesday, before easing later in the week.
Gazprom’s China-focused Amur gas processing plant in Russia’s Far East has halted operations after a fire early on Friday, a spokesman for the plant told.
The broader implications were not immediately clear, but the plant plays an important part in Russian gas exports to China, which has been hit by electricity shortages that have led to power rationing across the country.
Production issues at Sakhalin and Indonesia are also supporting prices, a Singapore-based source said.
Pakistan Rupee Exchange Rate