The Platts Japan Korea Marker for June, the newly assessed front month, began trading at $14.875/MMBtu on Wednesday and finished at $14.85/MMBtu Thursday amid sluggish demand and ample supply.
The marker for May lost 15 cents from last Friday to close at $14.80/MMBtu Tuesday due to the weakness in the market.
The JKM will not be assessed on Friday due to a public holiday in Singapore.
Offers for May came down during the week to the high $14s/MMBtu as sellers were forced to cut their expectations and unload remaining unsold cargoes. Bids fell to the mid-$14s/MMBtu on expectations that prices would drop further.
A few deals for delivery into Japan in May were reported done last week around the high $14s/MMBtu on a DES basis, sources said.
Warmer-than-average weather, ample supply including reloads out of the Atlantic basin and some new upcoming projects helped Japanese buyers to buy time and wait for better opportunities. Any further deals for May were now more likely to be close to the mid-$14s/MMBtu as only one or two large Japanese buyers have space in their tanks at this stage, a Japanese trader said.
As many as five Atlantic cargoes remained unsold for May and June delivery, three of which were available on an FOB basis. In addition, a Southeast Asian seller was trying to unload a cargo for late April delivery, traders said.
The bearish sentiment is expected to have a spillover effect on June delivery, sources said. On Thursday, offers for June were in the low to mid-$15s/MMBtu, with bids around the mid-$14s/MMBtu. Sources said that one or two Japanese utility buyers have now lowered their targets to the low-$14s/MMBtu.
No deals were heard for June. The gap between bids and offers were far apart, making it difficult to transact, sources said.
At least three Japanese power utilities were seen having room to take a cargo for mid- to late June delivery, although this could not be confirmed.
Cargoes for May or June delivery were available from Nigeria, Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia.
Meanwhile, the first cargo from Papua New Guinea was expected to arrive on May 20 in Asia, although it had likely been placed with a term contract partner, a Northeast Asian trader said. PNG LNG is now expected to offer as many as three cargoes a month, adding more volume to an already oversupplied market, sources said.
