LNG Bunker Snapshot: Rotterdam’s price climbs on larger bunker delivery premium
Rotterdam’s LNG bunker price has climbed with an uptick in bunker premiums, whereas Singapore’s price has held steady.
Weekly changes in LNG bunker prices:
- Rotterdam up by $10/mt to $680/mt
- Singapore up by $2/mt at $676/mt
Rotterdam
Rotterdam’s LNG bunker price has increased to $680/mt amid a 5% rise in the assessed LNG bunker premium, which has climbed to $128/mt.
The LNG price has also been supported by a modest 1% increase in the front-month Dutch TTF Natural Gas contract, a key benchmark for European gas prices.
The TTF gain has come amid “an expected decline in wind power generation,” according to the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC).
“The weather forecasts show both wind output and temperatures below average in Northern and Western Europe next week, and this is of course a bullish signal for the gas market as demand is set to ramp up,” noted Mind Energy (formerly Energi Danmark).
The EU's underground gas storage level stood at 82.7% on 7 November, slightly down from 82.8% the previous week and 12.5% lower year-on-year, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed.
“European gas storage has hovered around 82–83% through October — well below the injection patterns typical for this time of year,” said Hendrian Sukardi, LNG market analyst at China-based ENN Energy.
Singapore
Singapore’s delivered LNG bunker price has remained largely steady over the past week, increasing by just $2/mt.
A 1% rise in the front-month NYMEX Japan/Korea Marker (JKM) contract has mostly been offset by a $0.09/MMBtu ($4.88/mt) drop in the LNG bunker delivery premium.
As a result, Singapore’s modest LNG bunker price premium over Rotterdam has been flipped to a $4/mt discount.
Asian winter gas demand has been sluggish and buying interest has remained limited, JOGMEC commented.
Gas demand in China has stayed muted “as above-average winter temperatures persisted across large parts of the country,” according to ANZ Bank’s senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes.
“Asian spot LNG demand remains soft amid high gas inventories in Japan, South Korea, and China,” said ENN’s Hendrian Sukardi.
Japan’s LNG inventories for power generation totalled 1.98 million mt on 2 November, a 20,000 mt increase from the previous week, data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) showed.
Other LNG bunker news
Port operator Abu Dhabi Ports Company (AD Ports) will develop LNG and LPG bunkering facilities in the Port of Khalifa in the UAE.
In Italy, Edison has completed the first ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operation of a container vessel. In China’s Guangzhou Port, an MSC vessel became the first to bunker LNG while unloading cargo.
French shipping company CMA CGM has ordered 10 dual-fuel vessels capable of operating on LNG or conventional marine fuels.
LNG led alternative-fuel vessel orders in October, accounting for 26 of the 30 recorded that month, according to Kristian Hammer, senior consultant at DNV.
By Tuhin Roy
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