At least five LNG carriers have diverted from Asia to Europe as gas prices rose because Russia’s Gazprom halted supplies to OMV in Austria.
The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub was trading at €46 ($48.60) per megawatt hour on Monday, or $14.49 per MMBtu, the highest level since November 2023.
The Asian benchmark Japan Korea Marker (JKM) was $14 per MMBtu, LSEG data showed.
Gazprom stopped deliveries to Austria’s top importer on Saturday after OMV threatened to impound some of the Russian state firm’s gas in compensation for an arbitration it had won over a contractual dispute, Reuters reported.
Laura Page, manager of gas & LNG insight at analytics firm Kpler, said: “The JKM-TTF spread flipped into negative territory last week amid Russian pipeline gas supply concerns and an upcoming cold spell, which saw traders divert LNG cargoes away from Asia and towards Europe.”
LNG carriers have been enduring a terrible spot market, with record low rates of around $16,000 per day for tri-fuel diesel-electric ships, down from $85,000 in August.
Kpler data showed H-Line Shipping’s 174,000-cbm Vivirt City LNG (built 2021) heading to South Hook in the UK after loading a cargo from Equatorial Guinea that was destined for Bangladesh.
GasLog’s 180,000-cbm Gaslog Windsor (built 2020) had a cargo loaded with US gas from Sabine Pass that was heading to China, but it changed its destination on Friday towards the Isle of Grain terminal in the UK.
And BW LNG’s 174,000-cbm BW Lesmes (built 2021) switched to the same terminal with Nigerian gas bound initially for China.
Alex Froley, senior LNG analyst at data intelligence firm ICIS, explained that one of the main reasons for vessels heading for British berths is that they are less busy than mainland European ones.
Meanwhile, NYK Line’s 174,000-cbm Diamond Gas Crystal (built 2021) diverted to the Dutch Gate terminal, from South Korea.
And Flex LNG’s 174,000-cbm Flex Vigilant (built 2021) made the switch from China to Europe, awaiting orders.
