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With the slow recovery of LNG demand, the global natural gas inventory is expanding. In addition, with the recovery of the economy, worries about the second wave of outbreaks have intensified market caution.
Gas tanks in Japan, South Korea and Europe are full and dozens of LNG tankers are idle, trade and shipping sources said.
Rebecca JA, an analyst at kpler, a data intelligence company, said 27 tankers loaded with LNG had been marked as “floating,” with eight of them indicating Japan as their destination. Kpler believes that if a ship has been on the water for more than five days, it is marked as “floating.”.
Natural gas demand in Japan’s largest importer of liquefied natural gas has been weak as the outbreak forced hotels and restaurants to close and factories to suspend operations. In May, gas sales in the commercial sector fell by 50% year-on-year, while gas sales in the industrial sector fell by 20-30%.
Japan declared a state of emergency in early April until late May, when monthly LNG imports hit a 10-year low.
South Korean natural gas company, South Korea’s largest importer of liquefied natural gas, has delayed shipments to the second half of this year because it is coping with high inventories, the source told Reuters.
European gas inventories have also been at record levels since the warm winter.
“Northwest Europe is expected to have the largest storage capacity by the end of the injection season, and it is expected to take some time in August,” said analysts at shipbroker Simpson binceyoung