From the FT:
From Friday big LNG handlers such as Tokyo Electric Power and Mitsubishi Corp will be able to trade non-deliverable forwards – a type of futures contract without any physical settlement – on a new platform called Japan OTC Exchange (JOE), rather than striking private, bilateral deals.
…“This new benchmark can give a kind of bargaining power,” said Kosuke Araki, managing director at JOE. “We’re aware that there could also be situations where the market price is higher, but as far as contracts are referring to actual LNG spot prices, there will be little room for argument.”
Including the cost of liquefaction, transportation and regasification, Japan should really be paying about $11 or $12 per mmbtu for its gas rather than the average $16.39 it has paid over the past three years, said Hiroshi Hashimoto, a senior analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics, a state-backed think-tank.
And soon enough it will. The US Department of Energy has given final approval to Cameron LNG and signed off on another LNG exporter:
Crowley Maritime subsidiary Carib Energy has been granted a 20-year, small-scale U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) export license for the supply, transportation and distribution of U.S.-sourced LNG into Non-Free Trade Agreement (NTFA) countries in the Caribbean, Central and South America.
As a result, both commercial and industrial customers within NFTA countries can now benefit from cost-efficient, environmentally friendly LNG exported from the U.S. The licensing permits Crowley to now export 14.6 billion cubic feet (BCF) 0.04bcf/d of LNG – roughly the equivalent of 480,000 gallons – per day via 10,700 gallon ISO tanks to these regions.
Only another 0.3 million tonnes so hardly a market breaker but it’s all going one way: more gas!
