Financial prospects falter for LNG projects

摘要

The financial prospects for liquefied natural gas (LNG) once one of the globe's hottest energy commodities - seem to be imploding before our eyes. In the most recent step in a monumental market meltdown, frontmonth LNG futures prices in Asia settled on April 23 at just $2.05 per MMBtu. As recently as a year and a half ago, LNG sold for as much as $12 per MMBTU in Asia - meaning that LNG prices today are just one-sixth as high as they were in the fall of 2018. High prices in prior years had spurred a torrent of new LNG projects around the globe. But that optimism sowed the seeds of the fuel's current troubles, as massive new supplies of LNG, much of it coming from the US, flooded global markets even as demand growth remained muted. The resulting oversupply fueled a global price slump: even before the global coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) decimated global energy demand, LNG prices were already plummeting to a ten-year low.