Koch Supply and Trading has bought six
liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes of Nigerian origin and leased a
tanker to carry the fuel, its first taste of spot LNG trading, trade
sources said.
Volumes likely originate from Italian
utility Enel's long-term capacity at Nigeria's Bonny Island LNG export
facility, several traders said.
"We think this strip of cargoes may not
have been bought directly from Enel. It could have been traded around a
few times," a trade source said.
The deal was apparently concluded months
ago but the cargoes will only start to be loaded onto ships from October
for onward delivery.
The new entrant has also sealed its
transportation needs with a year-long lease of the
152,300-cubic-metre-capacity Seri Bakti tanker at a rate of $82,000/day,
shipping sources said.
Koch Supply and Trading was not immediately available to comment.
Koch set up an LNG trading desk in June
last year with a focus on delivering cargoes to East Asia and Latin
America, according to a company statement at the time.
New players are entering the LNG spot
trading market as banks reduce their presence due to strict capital
controls, while growth in traded volumes gives more traders space in
which to operate.
Glencore Xtrata, Noble Group, Axpo and
DufEnergy Trading recently set up LNG trading desks, joining trading
giants Vitol, Gunvor and Trafigura , which made their move a few years
ago.
Singapore's Temasek Holdings in April set
up its own LNG arm, Pavillion Energy, with $1 billion of capital to
invest in upstream projects, storage and import terminals.
Vitol, the world's biggest oil trader and
dominant force in LNG among the trading houses, made its mark after
securing deals to supply LNG to Kuwait, South Korea and Argentina, in
addition to trading regularly on the spot market.
Gunvor bought 19 LNG cargoes from Peru in
2011 and has transacted spot business ever since, while Trafigura won a
tender to supply 19 cargoes to Mexico this year.
The trading houses hope to exploit spot
trading opportunities to Asia and Latin America at a time when dramatic
price differences between geographic regions are fuelling profits.
Prices in Europe are at around $10 per
million British thermal units and in the United States have sunk to
about $4/mmBtu, while top LNG consumers in Asia and Latin America pay
around $15.50/mmBtu.
Post to be found at:
http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/Koch-Supply--Trading-Takes-Nigerian-LNG-in-Market-Debut-2013-08-28/
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