Spark’s data lead, Qasim Afghan, told LNG Prime on Friday that Spark30S (Atlantic) LNG freight rates dropped $2,500 to $26,500 per day, the lowest Atlantic rate in almost five months.
Similarly, Spark25S (Pacific) fell for a fourth consecutive week, dropping by $2,750 to $28,750 per day.
“So far, September 2025 LNG freight rates in both basins are at record lows when compared to September assessments in previous years,” Afghan said.
European prices continue to rise
In Europe, the SparkNWE DES LNG rose compared to last week.
“The SparkNWE DES LNG front-month price for October increased for a second consecutive week, rising by $0.287 to $10.832/MMBtu this week, whilst the basis to the TTF narrowed to $0.540,” Afghan said.
Moreover, “the US front-month arb to NE-Asia (via the Cape of Good Hope) widened further this week, decreasing $0.090 to -$0.161/MMBtu and now providing a stronger incentive for US cargoes to deliver to Europe,” he said.
“The US front-month arb to NE-Asia via Panama has also widened and is now at -$0.13/MMBtu, pricing in similarly to the arb via the Cape as freight rates continue to hit seasonal lows and thus reducing the importance of shortened tonne-mileage via Panama,” Afghan said.
Data by Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) shows that volumes in gas storages in the EU continued to rise and were 81.09 percent full on September 17.
Gas storages were 79.87 percent full on September 10, 2025, and 93.38 percent full on September 17, 2024.
JKM
In Asia, JKM, the price for LNG cargoes delivered to Northeast Asia in November 2025 settled at $11.525/MMBtu on Thursday.
Last week, JKM for October settled at 11.355/MMBtu on Friday, September 12.
Front-month JKM rose to 11.360/MMBtu on Monday, 11.450/MMBtu on Tuesday, and to 11.480/MMBtu on Wednesday.
State-run Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (Jogmec) said in a report earlier this week that JKM for last week “fell to low-$11s/MMBtu on September 12 from mid-$11s/MMBtu the previous weekend.”
“JKM rose to high-$11s/MBtu on September 9 on the back of uncertainty over supply from Arctic LNG 2, but the upward trend eased as weak demand continued, and the price moved in the range of low- to mid-$11s/MMBtu in the latter half of the week,” Jogmec said.
