SINGAPORE, Aug. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Monthly average prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for September delivery to Asia rose 3.5% from August to $16.005 per million British thermal units (/MMBtu), as production outages supported higher offers and bids, according to the latest monthly Platts Japan/Korea Marker (JKM) for month-ahead delivery. The monthly average Platts JKM for delivery in September was assessed over the period of July 16 to August 15.

This marked the second consecutive month-over-month gain in the monthly average JKM.

On a year-over-year basis, the average September JKM increased 18.4%.

At the beginning of the assessment period, the JKM prices were supported by short supplies due to production limitations. Nigeria LNG lifted its force majeure only on July 26, despite production resuming on July 13, and operations at Australian Woodside Petroleum's Pluto LNG liquefaction plant also resumed around mid-July.

"But both restarts did little to rein bullish sentiment on near-term prices, given the time needed to ramp up production rates and reschedule affected deliveries," said Sarah Cottle, editorial director of power at Platts, a leading global energy, petrochemicals and metals information provider and a premier source of benchmark price references. "However, the spot market became more bearish as supply gradually outstripped demand towards the end of the assessment period, with a series of sell tenders issued in the spot market over the past few weeks."

Meanwhile, the September spot prices of thermal coal and fuel oil, which are substitute fuels burned by Asian utilities, saw year-on-year gains in prices. However, compared to the previous month, thermal coal prices dropped 1.9%, while fuel oil rose 0.6%, respectively, according to the Platts' latest data for September.

    Platts Spot JKM and Substitute Fuel Prices (Monthly Averages)*
    -------------------------------------------------------------

                                                                                                                                                             Sep-13                                 Sep-12        Aug-13        Year-On-Year           Month-On-Month

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Change %                 Change %
                                                                                                                                                                                                                            ---              -------                  --------

                                                                  JKM ($/MMBtu)                                                                                             16.005                         13.518        15.464                 18.4                       3.5
                                                                  -------------                                                                                             ------                         ------        ------                 ----                       ---

                                                           Qinhuangdao coal ($/MMBtu)                                                                                         3.92                           4.32          4.00                 -9.2                      -1.9
                                                           --------------------------                                                                                         ----                           ----          ----                 ----                      ----

                                                           180 CST fuel oil ($/MMBtu)                                                                                        15.77                          16.43         15.67                 -4.0                       0.6
                                                           --------------------------                                                                                        -----                          -----         -----                 ----                       ---

    Source: Platts



    *Referred to as month-ahead, the figures in the table are monthly averages of daily values assessed by Platts from July 16th to August 15th. The Platts JKM rolls on the 16th of each calendar month


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The Platts JKM is an assessment of LNG prices for 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 are month-ahead delivered prices and are an average of the daily JKM price assessments reported by Platts.

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

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SOURCE Platts

SOURCE: Platts