LNG

Liftings of liquefied natural gas cargoes increased while North Asian spot futures prices slumped by between 15 percent and 30 percent for March and April deliveries as major Chinese LNG importing hubs, Tianjin and Dalian, imposed strict Covid-19 curbs while European benchmarks also dropped.

LNG shipping day rates started the second quarter at $55,000 and $38,000 for West and East of Suez respectively before rising through the mid-year on the West-East arbitrage window being opened by higher Asian natural gas prices.