SINGAPORE, Nov. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Prices of December-delivered shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Asia rose 4% to $13.529 per million British thermal units (/MMBtu), according to the latest monthly Platts Japan/Korea Marker (JKM). Platts is a leading global energy, petrochemicals and metals information provider and a premier source of benchmark price references. This follows a 0.3% increase for November-delivered shipments.

"Despite more limited demand in North Asia, spot prices were lifted by the shift from an oversupplied market to a balanced one," said Sarah Cottle, Platts editorial director of power. "Production issues at several companies, Yemen LNG, Nigeria LNG and Indonesia's Tangguh LNG, along with the fact that Angola LNG was still yet to come online, had a tightening effect on available supplies."

The Platts JKM is an assessment of LNG prices for physical spot cargoes delivered to Japan and South Korea, based on the most recent trades and/or bids and offers from buyers and sellers in the open market prevailing at the close of the trading day. The monthly JKM assessments reflect prices for month-ahead delivery and are an average of the daily JKM price assessments reported by Platts.

On a year-over-year comparison, prices of cargoes for December delivery were down 22% from the same period of 2011. The December-delivery value of Platts JKM is the monthly average of daily values assessed from October 16 through November 15. This marks the fourth month of consecutive declines on a year-over-year basis, with the Platts JKM having recorded its first ever year-over-year decline in September 2012.

"Demand was much weaker than a year ago," Cottle explained, "as Japanese power generators have now secured more gas on short- and medium-term contracts for gas-fired power plants, replacing nuclear generation that was taken offline after the Fukushima disaster."

Meanwhile, the prices of LNG substitute fuels - thermal coal and fuel oil, which are commonly burnt by Asian utilities - dropped 3% and 4% respectively for the month.

    Platts Spot JKM and Substitute Fuel Prices (Monthly Averages)*
                                                                                                                                                                               Dec-12         Dec-11  Nov-12  Year-On-Year  Month-On-Month
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Change %       Change %
    JKM ($/MMBtu)                                                                                                                                                                      13.53   17.38   13.00        -22.17            4.03
    Qinhuangdao coal                                                                                                                                                                    4.35    5.44    4.46        -20.17           -2.63
    ($/MMBtu)
    180 CST fuel oil                                                                                                                                                                   16.27   18.06   16.99         -9.95           -4.24
    ($/MMBtu)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

* Platts JKM rolls to the next forward month on the 16(th) of each calendar month
Source: Platts

For more information on natural gas or the methodology used by Platts in its natural gas assessments, visit the Platts website www.platts.com.

About Platts: Founded in 1909, Platts is a leading global provider of energy, petrochemicals and metals information and a premier source of benchmark prices for the physical and futures markets. Platts' news, pricing, analytics, commentary and conferences help customers make better-informed trading and business decisions and help the markets operate with greater transparency and efficiency. Customers in more than 150 countries benefit from Platts' coverage of the carbon emissions, coal, electricity, oil, natural gas, metals, nuclear power, petrochemical, and shipping markets. A division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), Platts is headquartered in New York with approximately 900 employees in more than 15 offices worldwide. Additional information is available at http://www.platts.com.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies: McGraw-Hill announced on September 12, 2011, its intention to separate into two public companies: McGraw-Hill Financial, a leading provider of content and analytics to global financial markets, and McGraw-Hill Education, a leading education company focused on digital learning and education services worldwide. McGraw-Hill Financial's leading brands include Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, S&P Capital IQ, S&P Indices, Platts energy information services and J.D. Power and Associates. With sales of $6.2 billion in 2011, the Corporation has approximately 23,000 employees across more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/.

SOURCE Platts

SOURCE: Platts