SINGAPORE: Several tankers carrying Atlantic-sourced liquefied natural gas (LNG) have diverted towards Europe, away from Asia, in recent days, as expectations of stronger winter demand amid seasonally low gas inventories boost the region’s pull on global supplies.
Europe is entering the heating season with its lowest gas inventories in years and is expected to increase LNG purchases to replenish stocks, raising the risk of a tighter market if Asian buying rebounds as Gulf supply disruptions continue to restrict cargoes amid the United States-Iran war.
The European Union’s gas storage fill ended last week at 74%, trailing the five-year average by 15 percentage points, analysts at Vortexa said.
Last week, at least four LNG tankers initially sailing towards Asia diverted to Europe, shiptracking data by analytics firms Kpler and LSEG show.
Two of the LNG tankers, the Shra’ouh and Al Kharrarah, which loaded at the Plaquemines LNG export facility in Louisiana in the United States were heading southeast before turning north around Oct 8 to Oct 9.
They are signalling for Grain, England and Zeebrugge, Belgium respectively.
The LNG Rosenrot vessel, which picked up a cargo from Trinidad and Tobago’s Atlantic LNG, reversed course on Oct 9 after earlier turning away from Europe.
Meanwhile, the Elisa Aquila vessel altered its course several times during its voyage before turning back towards Europe on Oct 7. It is carrying a cargo from Calcasieu Pass, Louisiana, and is currently signalling for Dunkerque, France.
The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility hub closed at 84.15 (US$94.16) per megawatt hour on Monday, or about US$27.64 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). Asian LNG futures based on the benchmark S&P Global Energy Japan-Korea Marker price were at US$26.09/mmBtu Monday.
While Europe-wide LNG deliveries in the past week were more than 5% below their four-week average, recent improvement in shipping economics to Europe is set to support regional imports of flexible Atlantic cargoes, Vortexa analysts said. — Reuters
