LNG supply/demand Trading patterns shift in 2009

摘要

LNG Business Review estimates that 2008 global LNG supply and demand, at 172.6 mt, was essentially the same as in 2007. Although total activity was unchanged, short-term trading continued to grow albeit more slowly than in previous years, increasing by 3.4% to 30.5 mt in 2008 compared with 29.5 mt in 2007. As figure 1 shows, Asia was the dominant market for short-term cargoes, accounting for over 79% of the activity compared with only 33% five years ago, when the majority of short-term trading was in the Atlantic Basin. In the process of the expansion in Asia, short-term activity in the Atlantic Basin has been squeezed as cargoes that would otherwise have been delivered to the flexible markets of the UK and the USA were diverted to Asia.