Price Spike Shows "Fragility" of Northeast Asian LNG Markets: APERC
Mar 3, 2021 12:40:pm
Summary
The "perfect storm", caused by a cold snap and other factors, has highlighted the lack of gas storage and other infrastructure constraints in the region.
by: Joe Murphy
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Price Spike Shows "Fragility" of Northeast Asian LNG Markets: APERC
The spike in gas prices in Northeast Asia near the end of 2020 and in early 2021 has highlighted the "fragility" of the region's LNG markets, a report by researchers at the Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre (APERC) states.
A number of factors created a "perfect storm" in the region's gas markets, causing LNG spot prices to soar tenfold in mid-December to a record high of over $30/mn Btu. These factors included a cold snap, limited nuclear output in Japan, record high demand in China, constraints on coal-fired generation in Korea, lower LNG inventories and liquefaction plant outages in Australia and Norway.