Why LNG and coal are cooked

Friday, 17 February 2023

This chart sums up the LNG freefall nicely:

That is one giant buyer that will not be around through H2. Probably in the order of 25mt of year-on-year demand gone in the second half.

China can pick up some of the slack. Its imports were down 17mt last year and will rebound somewhat. But its coal inventories are very high so it’s not going to be easy for gas.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.