LNG

Japan’s Inpex is preparing to seek urgent orders from Australia’s Fair Work Commission to block strike actions at its Ichthys LNG facilities. The move follows threats from workers to escalate strike actions starting Thursday after wage negotiations failed, raising the risk of disruptions to roughly 10% of Australia’s LNG exports in an already tight global market.

Prolonged LNG price volatility is upending sales and purchase agreements (SPAs) as traders sound alarm over JCC/Henry Hub swings eroding fixed-price economics. Risk-averse buyers increasingly demand take-or-pay flexibility, diversion rights and reopeners to avert margins getting eroded or wiped out.

A fifth Qatari LNG cargo, aboard the Al Daayen, has transited the Strait of Hormuz bound for China where it is expected to arrive on July 6, ship tracking data shows. Yet the cargo could change destination last minute, mirroring four China-bound US LNG cargoes that were diverted to South Korea and Japan instead.

As Asian netbacks for delivered LNG cargoes outbid European prices, buyers are struggling to attract sufficient volumes to offset a looming storage shortfall. An additional 40 cargoes per month would be needed over the next five months, according to ICIS calculations, though economists doubt this is achievable.

India’s power-sector LNG buying stays high into June as utilities scramble to offset missing term cargoes. None of India’s 16 GW gas-grid connected powergen capacity received contracted Qatari LNG cargoes in April and May, amid widespread heatwaves. Provisional June data indicate the shortfall persisted, keeping spot procurement at unusually high levels.

German utility Uniper has signed a preliminary LNG offtake agreement for 2 mtpa from Canada’s proposed Ksi Lisims project, as developers target an FID on the 12 mtpa floating liquefaction facility by the end of this year.

Suspension of nearly 10.2 mtpa of Qatari LNG supply to Asia is forcing utility buyers to switch to coal, with an additional 150 million tonnes of consumption projected through 2030, roughly half of which in 2026 alone. The driver is a supply gap, not green policies, RystadEnergy said, anticipating an LNG shortfall of 35 million tons (Mt) this year.

Sempra Infrastructure’s ECA LNG Phase 1 liquefaction project located at Ensenada, Mexico, has started producing LNG, the Sempra subsidiary confirmed. This forms part of the commissioning process before commercial operations start.

Eskom has entered an LNG supply agreement with Zululand Energy Terminal (ZET) to underpin its planned 3,000 MW gas-to-power project in Richards Bay, South Africa. The deal will make Eskom a “foundation customer” at the proposed regas terminal, which will offer open-access LNG imports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a presidential decree demanding that French energy giant, TotalEnergies sells a 10% stake in the Arctic LNG 2 project to a company set up last month called NordLine.