“Spark30S (Atlantic) freight rates held steady this week, decreasing marginally by $500 to $29,000 per day this week,” Spark’s commercial analyst Max Glen-Doepel told LNG Prime on Friday.
Meanwhile, Spark25S (Pacific) rates also remained stable, decreasing by $750 to $20,000 per day, he said.
European prices climb
In Europe, the SparkNWE DES LNG rose compared to last week.
“The SparkNWE DES LNG front month price increased this week by $0.575 to $11.750/MMBtu, driven mostly by the week-on-week rise in TTF prices,” Glen-Doepel said.
He said the discount to the TTF “is assessed at $0.470/MMBtu, the narrowest basis in over four months.”
“The US front month arb to NE-Asia (via the Cape of Good Hope) decreased this week, now at -$0.163/MMBtu and still pointing to Europe. However, for US offtakers who have access to the Panama Canal, the arb has opened up, assessed at $0.070/MMBtu and marginally pointing to Asia,” Glen-Doepel said.
Data by Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) shows that volumes in gas storages in the EU continued to rise and were 49.88 percent full on June 6.
Gas storages were 47.15 percent full on May 28, and 71.11 percent full on June 6, 2024.
JKM
In Asia, JKM, the price for LNG cargoes delivered to Northeast Asia in July 2025 settled at $12.415/MMBtu on Thursday.
Last week, JKM for July settled at 12.155/MMBtu on Friday, May 30.
Front-month JKM rose to 12.300/MMBtu on Monday, and it increased to 12.330/MMBtu on Tuesday and to 12.370/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-$12s/MMBtu on May 30 from mid-$12s/MMBtu the previous weekend.”
“It rose to high-$12s/MMBtu on May 26 due to heightened geopolitical tensions caused by massive attack on Ukraine by Russia on the previous weekend. It then continued to fall, to low-$12s/MMBtu on May 30, as relatively high price levels curbed cargo purchases while subdued demand from end-users across East Asia,” Jogmec said.
