High prices choke LNG demand

LNG demand from China, India and Pakistan is likely to rebound from multi-year lows once the Middle East supply crunch ends and new supplies emerge, industry executives say, reversing a pick-up in coal and oil to replace gas during the US-Iran war. The conflict has prevented Qatar and the UAE from exporting most of their LNG via the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global supplies used to pass, driving up prices. Shell, the world's biggest LNG trader, estimates the world has lost about 36 million tonnes of LNG from the Middle East so far this year, said President for Integrated Gas Cederic Cremers. Asia's spot prices have surged to nearly $30 per million British thermal units from a pre-war range around $10 per MMBtu, as the region competes for alternative supplies. Sky-high prices are "definitely impacting" demand in India, GAIL Chairman Deepak Gupta said at the Gastech conference in Bangkok, where "a lot of sectors... are price sensitive". In neighbouring Pakistan, the CEO of importer Pakistan LNG also expects more demand if the price is right. "That could happen with additional volumes coming online," said Masood Nabi. While solar buildouts have helped Pakistan cope with power cuts in recent years, there is still gas demand from other sectors as well as households, he added.