The Platts June LNG Japan Korea Marker ended the week at $17.90/MMBtu, after climbing to $18.00/MMBtu record highs mid-week due to high North Asian demand coupled with sparse summer supplies, but falling slightly on Friday following an Indonesian Tangguh supply tender for additional June and July cargoes.
The June JKM was assessed at $17.825/MMBtu Monday.
Sources said Indonesia's Tangguh LNG issued a sell tender for three cargoes in June and one cargo in early July, closing May 15.
"The cargoes would be offered on a (delivery ex-ship) basis, very similar to the (previous) Tangguh tender from last December, when (Korea Gas) ended up lifting most of the volume," a trader said.
The additional supply from Indonesia's Tangguh supply tender was met by a visible lack of June demand in North Asia, as buyers had previously secured cargoes for June. North Asian June demand was nearly finished, a trader said, adding that a couple Japanese utilities were still looking for July.
Sources said Yemen LNG issued a force majeure, but this could not be directly confirmed with the company. Yemen LNG lost six cargoes from a previous March 30 attack on its pipeline, with a second attack on April 26 forcing a shutdown of the terminal again. Sources said the second explosion would likely result in more cargoes lost than the first.
"Problems at Yemen continue to be seen as a factor keeping prices high," a source said, adding that Yemeni supply issues could ease if additional Tangguh supplies, on top of what is being marketed, would be tendered heading into summer.
North Asian demand firmed for cargoes further out in July and August as Japanese utilities prepared to face a summer without nuclear power generation. Over the weekend, technicians switched off Japan's last operating nuclear reactor, leaving the country without any nuclear power ahead of peak summer electrical demand.
The closure of Hokkaido Electric Power's No. 3 unit at Tomari marked the first time since the 1970s that resource-poor and energy-hungry Japan has been without nuclear power -- a technology that provided a third of its electricity until meltdowns last year at Fukushima.
"The next one to two weeks will be an important time to see where prices head, as Japan has been away for 10 days due to the Golden Week holidays, so we need to see what level buyers will be willing to transact at next," a different trader said.
Platts June DES West India was unchanged, ending the week at $15.50/MMBtu Friday.
Indian utilities said they would not yet compete with rising North Asian prices ahead of the Indian June to July monsoon season.
A South Asian source said he had not yet decided whether he would buy any spot cargoes for June, due to lower demand, but would decide by the end of May.
"We are seeing sluggish demand due to the late arrival of summer, and have quite a lot of surplus gas," the utility source said. "At this point of time, the market is saturated with some cheaper gas." Platts assessed FOB Middle East LNG at $14.80/MMBtu Friday, up from $14.75/MMBtu Monday.
The Asia Pacific Day Rate ended Friday at $110,000/day, holding steady throughout the week.
A source said the shipping market was "very quiet," with low levels of LNG chartering activity following the Japanese Golden Week.
The source said Norway's Snohvit may have FOB cargoes available, and could also offer shipping.
Sohar LNG was estimated to arrive at India's Dahej LNG terminal May 20, after being loaded with a cargo at Nigeria's Bonny LNG terminal May 1, Platts shipping data showed. Meanwhile, a Peruvian cargo on board the Castillo de Santisteban was heading towards Thailand's Map Ta Phut LNG receiving terminal and was due to arrive June 5. According to Perupetro S.A., the ship left Peru May 9, after being loaded with 169,380 cu m of LNG.
