LNG

The first cargo from Sempra’s Energia Costa Azul LNG terminal on Mexico’s Pacific coast is heading to South Korea, offering a new route for US LNG to Asian markets. The cargo, loaded aboard the Pacific Success, is still underway in the Pacific.

Europe's LNG intake fell about 16 percent in June, and reporting has placed the decline on lower US deliveries. The vessel record complicates that reading. US terminals loaded 151 cargoes in June, level with the 149 of May and above the 2025 monthly average of 136. Loadings did not fall. What changed was where the gas went.

Five US-loaded LNG cargoes have diverted from European or Egyptian destinations into the Pacific Basin in the four weeks through mid-May: the WilPride, SK Audace, Umm Al Houl, Adamastos and Sea Navigator. Four are signalling 'For Orders' and one (the Adamastos) is bound for Dahej, India, LNG Journal’s data shows.

Sempra's Energía Costa Azul (ECA) LNG terminal has received its first feedgas with a view to start LNG production this spring. The Pacific-facing terminal is targeting Asian markets, with offtake by TotalEnergies and Mitsui supporting Phase 1 project economics.

Asia Pacific’s natural gas demand is forecast to rise 4% this year, as a surge in new LNG supply from Qatar and the US is expected to lower prices. A landmark 40 bcm, or 7% increase in global LNG may well make price-sensitive buyers in China re-emerge, the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts.

Energy Aspects remains bearish against JKM–TTF Q1 26 spreads amid dwindling freight rates. Some recent fixtures for two-stroke LNG vessels in the Atlantic basin fell below $100,000 per day, opening the arbitrage for US LNG heading to markets east of Suez via the Cape of Good Hope.

Commissioning delays have pushed back the timeline for Costa Azul LNG’s first 3.25 mtpa train, which is now expected to begin commercial operations in the first quarter of 2026. Train 2 remains in the early stages of development, envisioned to expand total capacity to 12 mtpa.

Proponent of LNG exports from Alaska expect to finish the key engineering and cost assessment for an 800-mile gas pipeline stretching from the North Slope to the Gulf of Alaska by the end of this year, according to US Interior Dough Burgum. The pipeline is critical for securing feedgas for Alaska’s $44 billion LNG export terminal.

Baseload US LNG supply to Asia – price-insensitive volumes that will head to the Pacific Basin regardless of JKM–TTF spreads – is averaging 20 percent, or 1.7 million for July. Outturn JKM prices are hovering around $12.98 per MMBtu, with analysts carefully observing developments around the Strait of Hormuz.

The liquefaction process at massive LNG Canada terminal in Kitimat will start over the weekend. A tanker is on route to collect the first cargo from the plant which will initially operate at 25% capacity.