LNG

India's energy landscape has long been dominated by coal; now the Indian government has announced an ambitious pivot, writes our Market Editor Dr Alexander Wilk. 

India's energy landscape has long been dominated by coal, which generates roughly 70 percent of its electricity while natural gas accounts for only about 6–7 percent of its primary energy mix. The Indian government has announced an ambitious pivot, aiming to raise gas to 15 percent of the energy mix by 2030 – a target repeatedly emphasised as part of making India a "gas-based economy." 

China’s rapid adoption of LNG trucks sales is displacing the use of diesel and other oil products in road transport, impacting global trade flows of both hydrocarbon fuels as well as manufacturing supply chains in the automotive sector; our Correspondent Anja Karl investigates. 

Global LNG exports fell 9 percent month-on-month but remained 2 percent higher year-on-year, whilst demand rose modestly by 1 percent, our Market Editor Dr Alexander Wilk reports. 

Methane slip, as based on standard factors, can account for up to 24% of GHG emissions from an LNG-fuelled vessel. 

As an alternative to using standard factors for the reporting of CO2 equivalents, direct methane emissions monitoring has the potential to positively impact a ship’s reported carbon footprint, classification society and consultancy, DNV said in a report. 

As land-based LNG bunkering infrastructure has become increasingly widespread at ports around the world, many have predicted that the need for ship-to-ship fuel transfers will diminish, but the latest developments in the field are now reshaping this outlook. Fuelling Editor Malcolm Ramsay has more. 

ADNOC: ADNOC has signed a 15-year sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Japanese trading house, Mitsui & C, to supply up to 0.6 mill tonnes per annum of lower-carbon LNG from its Ruwais project.

This marks the fifth long-term LNG SPA for Ruwais LNG and further reinforces ADNOC’s commitment to Japan’s energy security and the supply of cleaner energy worldwide, the Abu Dhabi company said.

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Four LNG cargoes originally heading for Europe have changed course to Asia in the past couple of weeks.

Asian spot LNG prices fell last week to a new one-year low on weak demand and trade wars raising concerns over long-term Asian demand.

The average LNG price for June delivery into northeast Asia was $11 per MMBtu, the lowest level recorded since mid-May, 2024 and down from $11.80 per MMBtu last week, industry sources estimated.

"LNG price expectations have been transformed in the last two and a half months. US President Trump’s tariff war is set to slow global demand, European gas storage targets are being weakened and imports into the world’s biggest LNG buyer, China, have slumped," said Alex Froley, ICIS senior LNG analyst.

China's demand remained subdued, with LNG imports down 26% in April, 2025 compared to April, 2024, while imports for January/April this year were down 23% from the year before, Froley added.

Toby Copson, chairman at Davenport Energy Partners, said that there was very little fundamental demand in the East for spot cargoes, and utilities aren't stepping in yet to cover cooling demand.

"Sentiment is negative. I don't see a floor yet. If price- sensitive nations start picking up attractive lower prices, we might see rates stabilise. However, trade wars create demand destruction, and there is plenty of supply available," Copson said.

Trade tensions continued to weigh on the outlook for LNG demand this year especially from Asia, with China re-exporting record volumes of LNG in April, said Rabobank energy strategist, Florence Schmit.

In South Korea, buyers sought cargoes to refill low storage levels and there was also stronger demand from Indian buyers, due to low price levels, said Martin Senior, Argus' head of LNG pricing.

Europe prices fall

In Europe, northwest European delivered prices fell, mostly because of new regulations from the German government reducing its own national gas storage targets for this winter to 70% from the existing 90%. 

This has reduced summer demand expectations, Senior added.

Rabobank's Schmit added that the weakness in Asia would help ease supply tightness for Europe during the summer injection season, saying that threats of tougher US sanctions on Russia’s energy sector and EU's plans to phase out Russian gas remain bullish risks for the gas markets.

S&P Global Commodity Insights assessed its daily North West Europe LNG Marker (NWM) price benchmark for cargoes delivered in June on an ex-ship (DES) basis at $9.78 per MMBtu on 1^st May, a $0.75 per MMBtu discount to the Dutch TTF hub June price.

The US arbitrage to northeast Asia via the Cape of Good Hope remained closed, while the arbitrage via Panama continued to marginally advantage Asia, said Spark Commodities analyst, Qasim Afghan.

In the LNG freight market, Atlantic rates rose for the second week in a row to $40,750 per day last Friday, while Pacific rates remained flat at $22,550 per day, Afghan added.

Last week, China returned to the LNG spot market, purchasing at least two cargoes at around $10 per MMBtu, according to sources talking with Bloomberg. 

More buying could be seen this week, traders said. 

Consistent purchases by China and other importers may help slow the recent decline in Asian and European gas prices.

“Prices at the moment are weak,” FGE Chairman Emeritus, Fereidun Fesharaki said on Bloomberg TV. “ By the end of this year, prices could go 50%- 60% higher than they are today.”

Two important final investment decisions (FIDs) were reported in the past week, one concerning an Argentine FLNG and the other a US LNG export project.