LONDON: Pakistan issued a tender on Friday to buy a cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for delivery in February 2020, documents from state-owned gas firm Pakistan LNG showed.

The delivery window is on Feb 16-17, and the deadline to submit offers is on Dec. 17.

Meanwhile, Asian spot prices for LNG fell for the fourth week in a row on Friday, with traders expecting a further slide due to abundant supplies, full inventories and mild weather.

The average LNG price for December delivery into northeast Asia LNG-AS was estimated at $5.40 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), $0.30/mmBtu down from last week. The January delivery price is around $5.90/mmBtu, market sources said.

“Clearly there is no buying demand on the market. All inventories across the world are high, production is strong and the weather seems to be very mild,” one LNG trader said. Unusually warm winter temperatures are forecast across key Asia markets, including Japan and China, the world’s top LNG importers.

The busy schedule of LNG deliveries to Europe, where storage facilities are already full, is also driven spot gas prices to almost half their levels they were a year ago.

“There is not a single argument at the moment to believe that the LNG market will become bullish,” the LNG trader said.

In terms of spot market activity, Russia’s Sakhalin 2 plant has sold an LNG cargo for loading in January at about $6.40 to $6.45 per mmBtu to Diamond Gas International.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2019