Asia Pacific: Price trends

Price overview

Average LNG prices in Asia Pacific are set to rise as the increase in oil prices pulls up the cost of contract supplies.

The average price China pays for LNG rose to $7.1/MMBtu in December, the first time it has breached the $7/MMBtu mark since February 2016. This helped raise the country’s average LNG import price for 2016 to just under $7.0/MMBtu, which was still significantly below the $8.7/MMBtu average seen in 2015. The average price for LNG imported by Japan and South Korea in December was around $7.3/MMBtu – with the figure for 2016 as a whole at around $6.9/MMBtu for both countries. The average cost of Taiwan’s LNG imports was the lowest in the region last year, at $6.4/MMBtu. With oil prices expected to continue to rise this year, average LNG prices in Asia will increase further.