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TagsSingapore, 4 June 2012
Platts today announced it has expanded its suite of liquefied natural gas (LNG) price references to include forward-month price assessments on swaps of Asia-Pacific-delivered LNG as of June 1, 2012. A swap is generally used to hedge against the price of a commodity by exchanging cash flows that are dependent on a reference-price for the underlying commodity.
“The launch of forward LNG price assessments reflects Platts’ commitment to bringing greater transparency and efficiency to markets by establishing a comprehensive offering of key price references,” said Larry Foster, Platts global editorial director, power. “By extending the portfolio of available LNG spot price references, Platts is responding to a rapidly evolving market segment with global relevance.”
The Platts forward assessments, also known as forward curves, reflect swaps that are based on Platts’ Japan/Korea Marker (JKM) physical spot price assessment with a standard contract-size of 10,000 MMBtu (million British thermal units). One month, two months and three months forward assessments are now available. The Platts JKM spot price and swaps assessments represent cargoes that are delivered ex-ship (DES) to ports in Japan and Korea.
In addition to the forward swaps assessments, Platts also announced it has launched an additional half-month price assessment for physical spot market LNG delivered to Japan and Korea, thereby extending the forward curve by about 15 days.
“The expansion of our price data offerings for both physical LNG cargoes and LNG derivatives in Asia further augments our portfolio of price references for a key price benchmark as the global gas marketplace develops,” added Foster.
In February 2009, Platts launched the world’s first independent daily price assessments of Asia-bound LNG, which have since become a benchmark reference for many in the industry. Since 2010, Platts has also published price assessments for India- and Middle East-delivered LNG and spot charter assessments for LNG vessels.
The first LNG swap deal based off of the Platts JKM price assessment for delivered spot LNG cargoes was executed in January 2011 by a prominent global investment bank.
Ends --
The JKM LNG DES Japan/Korea forward swap assessments are published in Platts LNG Daily, the first-ever daily independent news publication for the global LNG industry. They are also available in Platts’ real-time services Natural Gas Alert (NGA) and Platts European Power Alert (EPA), as well as in data point through Platts Market Data.
Platts’ physical market LNG price assessments are developed using its market-on-close methodology for LNG, a structured assessment process based on the principle that price is a function of time and which results in a time-sensitive end-of-trading-day value. The assessments reflect prices as determined between buyer and seller in the open market. For more information on the methodology and quality-control guidelines, visit the natural gas methodology and specifications page of the Platts website. For more information on natural gas and Platts, visit the website www.platts.com.
