Analyst: Lng Exports Profitable Only With $100 Oil; Us Could Spur Exports To Japan

摘要

Crude oil prices will need to shoot past $100/barrel again for US firms eyeballing the global liquefied natural gas market to make a profit shipping to Asia, Barclays Capital energy analyst Tom Driscoll said last week.rnThe surge in US gas production has led some observers to suggest that US producers could take advantage of recent Japanese contract prices of approximately $13/MMBtu by exporting LNG to Japan, Driscoll said in a note to clients.rnHowever, "we estimate the full-cycle cost of sending LNG from the Gulf Coast to Japan would be nearly $6/MMBtu," Driscoll said. "For Japanese (oil-linked) contract prices to be high enough for US producers to receive a netback price above the current forward US natural gas strip, we believe crude oil prices would need to be at or above $100/barrel."