LNG Sellers Retain Leverage Despite Joint Purchase Pressure

摘要

Asian buyers of liquefied natural gas(LNG)have advanced moves to jointly procure supplies in a bid to put downward pressure on prices. Japan's Chubu Electric and GAIL India signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU)for this purpose on March 21 2014,building on apreliminaryagreementreachedbetweenthetwocompaniesinJanuary. Inaddition,SouthKorea'sKogashasbeenintalksforasimilararrange- mentwithundisclosedJapanesefirms.Furtherjointprocurementof LNG supplies by Asian buyers could effectively form a cartel that could bear significant pressure on LNG prices.