LNG Bunker Snapshot: Bunker premiums push Singapore prices higher
Rotterdam’s LNG bunker price has fallen on lower bunker premiums and declining gas benchmarks, while Singapore’s has surged amid sharply higher bunker premiums and tightening global supply.
Weekly changes in LNG bunker prices:
- Rotterdam down by $81/mt to $1,117/mt
- Singapore up by $112/mt to $1,406/mt
Rotterdam
Rotterdam’s LNG bunker price has dropped by $81/mt over the past week to $1,117/mt, largely driven by an approximately 13% decline in LNG bunker premiums, which fell from about $157/mt to $137/mt.
Prices were further weighed down by an almost 6% decrease in the front-month Dutch TTF natural gas contract, the key benchmark for European gas markets.
The decline in TTF was attributed to “an easing of geopolitical risks following the announcement that Iran would postpone its attack on power infrastructure for five days and reports of the start of talks between the countries involved, as well as an increase in gas supply from Norway,” according to the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC).
“European gas prices fell… as markets reassessed the outlook for the conflict,” two analysts from ING Bank noted.
“Donald Trump’s shift in rhetorics towards Iran is likely the main reason why gas fell… as a re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz would allow more than 20% of all global LNG production to re-enter the market,” added Mind Energy.
“Robust supply and expectations of a recovery in wind power generation” also contributed to the downward pressure on the benchmark, JOGMEC added.
EU underground gas storage stood at 28.2% on 27 March, down from 28.5% a week earlier and 16.4% lower year on year, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.
Singapore
Singapore’s LNG bunker price jumped by $112/mt week on week to $1,406/mt, driven primarily by a sharp rise in LNG bunker premiums, which increased significantly from about $165/mt to $245/mt.
As a result, Singapore’s premium over Rotterdam widened significantly to $289/mt, up from $96/mt the previous week.
“About 17% of Qatar’s capacity, the world’s biggest producer, was damaged by Iranian missiles last week. The repairs may take as long as five years to complete, according to QatarEnergy. Even unaffected capacity could take weeks to restart. The disruptions have seen Asian buyers rush to secure alternative supplies,” said Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at ANZ Bank.
Meanwhile, supply disruptions extended beyond the Middle East.
“While Qatar's LNG operations remains essentially shut, cyclone Narelle practically kicked off Australia's western LNG plants. The cyclone disrupted operations at the Wheatstone, Gorgon and North West Shelf LNG projects. Very importantly, the Karratha gas processing plant suffered an outage after allegedly loosing power supply. No official timeline was shared by the operators on when the plants could return to operations. but considering the already tight global LNG market conditions, each and every day of lost production adds more pressure to the market,” said Greg Molnár, gas analyst at the International Energy Agency.
These supply-side disruptions have further intensified upward pressure on Asian LNG prices.
Other LNG bunker news
Oil and gas trading firm Vitol has signed a binding agreement to purchase around 1.5 million mt/year of LNG from US-based producer Venture Global over five years from 2026.
By Tuhin Roy
Please get in touch with comments or additional info to news@engine.online
