LONDON, March 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Heren Energy is pleased to announce the launch of a pioneering new spot Liquefied Natural Gas assessment to add to its extensive portfolio of energy pricing benchmarks.
The company's weekly global LNG publication, Heren LNG Markets, will carry a spot LNG price for cargoes delivered to the Far East as of 7th March.
The price reflects the traded value delivered ex-ship (d.e.s.) into Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China.
After a winter in which around 70 cargoes have been diverted from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and buyers in Turkey were forced to pay the same price as their peers in Tokyo Bay and Seoul, the need for an assessment of the short term LNG price paid by Asian buyers has become pressing. The spot LNG price in this region has a direct impact on the amount of LNG arriving in the other two major centres of LNG demand: the US and Europe and increasingly on the price of LNG in these regions.
Heren Energy's founder Patrick Heren said:
"Price transparency in commodity markets comes from a variety of sources, but initially it is provided by reporting agencies. Heren Energy performed this role in European gas and electricity markets in the last decade, often reporting prices before many people in the industry were prepared to believe any such activity was taking place. The essential point about HLM's LNG initiative is that it reflects - or makes transparent - what is actually happening in the market."
With numerous regasification terminal expansions under way in the Far East, a new Taiwanese terminal opening later this year, more Korean storage opening soon and Japanese demand expected to stay high for the foreseeable future, the capacity of these buyers to attract cargoes all year round is increasing fast. Meanwhile, China's state run CNOOC has signalled its intention to increase spot buying this summer, and at least five more Chinese LNG regasification terminals are scheduled to open in the next three years.
Initially the assessment will take the form of a month-ahead range, representing the ex-ship price for Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China. Buyers in these regions typically compete for the same pool of spot cargoes and receive similar price offers from the sellers. Longterm relationships are becoming less important in determining the traded short-term price, as sellers realise they can make more money per molecule by offering to all of the region's buyers and as new buyers enter the market.
This is by no means a perfect traded market, but consensus on a typical price for the region has been growing steadily over the last year, to the point where Heren Energy believes it can publish a meaningful benchmark. Publishing a price range rather than a single number acknowledges market imperfections while providing a considered and well-researched judgement of typical market value.
Notes:
About Heren Energy
Heren Energy is a world-leading publisher of gas, power and carbon market information. A series of market reports provide news, analysis, benchmark price assessments and indices. These publications are complimented by far reaching historical data packages, which collectively provide a comprehensive data solution to the energy sector's information requirements.
On Monday 3 March 2008, ICIS, the commodity market information business of Reed Business Information UK Ltd, announced its acquisition of Heren Energy. This acquisition provides ICIS with the opportunity for greater geographic coverage of international energy markets and additional sales points for Heren Energy products through the global network of ICIS offices. The acquisition also provides the opportunity to broaden the spread of markets currently covered by Heren Energy, as well as providing support for entry into new vertical energy markets.
ICIS
ICIS is the world's largest information provider for the chemical and oil industry, assisting companies in global commodity markets to improve their revenues and profits by providing high quality, timely, commercially useful information, business leads and brand positioning across the world.
Our global team of around 200 people based in London, Houston, Singapore, New York, Washington, San Francisco, Shanghai, Moscow and Mumbai strives to deliver definitive global chemical intelligence.
About Reed Business Information UK
Reed Business Information UK is a leading B2B online media and publishing company, with an award-winning portfolio of branded community websites, online subscription services, web based directories and vertical search products. Part of the Reed Elsevier Group, RBI has annual sales of $500 million, with globally recognised brands in 18 vertical markets in the UK, Europe, USA and Asia.
For further information, please contact: Louise Boddy Managing Editor Tel: +44-20-8469-4707 Email: louise.boddy@heren.com Andre Vanderputt Marketing Manager Tel: +44-20-8469 4893 Email: andre.vanderputt@heren.com
For further information, please contact: Louise Boddy, Managing Editor, Tel: +44-20-8469-4707, Email: louise.boddy@heren.com; Andre Vanderputt, Marketing Manager, Tel: +44-20-8469 4893, Email: andre.vanderputt@heren.com
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