LNG

摘要

The month of May witnessed diverse activity in the LNG industry underlined by very strong commodity prices. As Brent crude climbed to above $80/bbl, driven by both increased demand and restricted OPEC supply, NBP and JKM rallied to highs not seen at this time of year since 2014. As the commodity prices sloped upwards, market players were galvanised on all basins thus turning a usually uneventful period from a shipping perspective, to quite an interesting one. With reloads out of Europe becoming increasingly appealing for charterers, especially in the second part of the month, prompt tonnage tightened and charter rates increased. In the first part of May the market busied itself with multi-month and multi-year requirements but as the JKM rose the spot market picked up accordingly. The volume of requirements coming to the market for spot and summer voyages and winter period coverage lent validation to a bullish owner sentiment that ran throughout May and well into June.