LNG Market Update
The Pacific market has regained some lost ground against the Atlantic recently. Due to a low supply of 2-stroke 174cbm tonnage in the Asia region, the BLNG1-174 index rose by $2,300, the largest movement of any route this week, closing at $76,100. Meanwhile, the BLNG1-160 index remained stagnant, closing again at $61,000.
News of the Freeport LNG terminal getting all three of its trains back up and running, hinting at a potential recovery in production rates, has not influenced the rates. Both the BLNG2-160 and BLNG174 indexes lost $600, closing at $57,700 and $73,800, respectively. With vessels in supply and only reports of a TFDE 160cbm ship on subs for a late August US-Europe stem, there hasn’t been much driving a gain. For the Houston-Japan BLNG3 route, the 174cbm index remained flat at $88,400, while the 160cbm index fell by a few hundred dollars to $73,000.
Period charters haven’t seen much activity, which is typical for the summer months. Six-month charters were published at $100,800, one-year at $81,500, and three-year at $84,000, all of which are down from the previous week.
LPG Market Update
The Middle East Gulf (MEG) market experienced a slow week with the BLPG1 index falling by $5.166 to $46.667, marking the lowest level since early February. A slow fixing week and an unexpected surplus of vessels have put pressure on rates, resulting in a firm downward trend. One vessel reported on subs around $45 hasn’t lowered the index yet, but further declines are not unexpected.
In the Atlantic routes, there have been more fixtures done basis BLPG2 Houston-Flushing than seen in many weeks. Despite around four ships having options to Flushing, rates haven’t significantly reacted. For the Houston-Chiba BLPG3 route, there was only a minor movement of a few cents, closing at $90.417 with a daily TCE earning equivalent of $27,782. Reports that the Panama Canal Authority will fully reopen the canal crossings within the coming months have alleviated some tonne-mile pressure, but with product long, more is needed to move rates higher. BLPG2 Houston-Flushing ended positively, albeit by only $0.375, closing at $49.75 with a daily TCE earning of $43,827.
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Source: Baltic exchange
