The glut still weighs
Higher oil prices will lift some LNG contracts, but do little to support the spot market
Long-term contract prices for liquefied natural gas in Asia-Pacific, which are indexed to crude futures, should move higher with any increase in oil prices this year, but spot LNG prices are unlikely to be much affected thanks to persistent oversupply. A large portion of LNG contracts globally are linked to oil prices - typically the Japan Customs Cleared (JCC) price in Asia - with a lag of three months. The gradual recovery in oil prices last year- given momentum by the recent Opec deal - is now feeding into LNG prices. "Global oil-price movements in 2017 will flow through into oil-indexed contracts in the same manner," Tomás O'Loughlin, senior credit officer for infrastructure finance, at
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The March 2026 issue of Petroleum Economist is out now!
