PERTH: Asian spot LNG prices were steady above $16 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) this week as receding worries about supply disruptions in Nigeria and Australia were offset by hopes for strong summer demand in North Asia.
Asian LNG prices were pegged in the low-$16 per mmBtu level, unchanged from last week's levels.
Keeping a lid on prices was a resumption in exports by Nigeria LNG late last week following a three-week blockade over a conflict with the nation's maritime security agency regarding levies.
The blockade ended after Nigeria LNG agreed to pay a $140 million levy "under protest.
The West African facility has been plagued with unplanned shutdowns in the last several months, with Royal Dutch Shell declaring force majeure on supplies to the Nigeria LNG plant in May due to a pipeline leak.
Woodside Petroleum's Pluto LNG has also resumed production after an unplanned shutdown.
The plant, which came online in 2012, has boosted Asian LNG supplies and relieved a supply shortage in the region.
But strong demand in Asia during the summer months, as top LNG importer Japan braces for a hotter-than-average summer, kept prices supported.
South Korea, the world's second largest importer of the fuel, is also seeing strong summer demand.
June imports of LNG rose around 14 percent to 2.79 million tonnes from a year earlier.
In the Atlantic, Qatar's gift of five natural gas cargoes to fuel-short Egypt will likely be signed over to the foreign partners in Egyptian export plants, GDF Suez and BG Group, as compensation for declining exports.
Doha agreed last month to donate five LNG tankers to help Cairo cover obligations to foreign firms as Egypt's gas supplies are funnelled toward the domestic gas market, where energy shortages have fuelled civil unrest. (Reuters)
