Spark’s data lead, Qasim Afghan, told LNG Prime on Friday that Spark30S (Atlantic) rates have dipped back below $100,000 this week, dropping $6,250 week-on-week to $97,250 per day.
Afghan said Spark25S (Pacific) rates have dropped $2,500 to $68,750 per day.
“What lies ahead remains wholly uncertain”
“There is unmissable irony in the description of spot charter rates for modern tonnage as “healthy”, given the ongoing crisis in the LNG market where the world’s largest single supplier continues to be cut off from its global customer base. Despite the forcibly idle tonnage unable to reach home base in the Middle East, levels continue to show resistance around a similar range to long-term charter rates,” Fearnley LNG said in its weekly LNG report on Thursday.
“Whilst the worst of the conflict is hopefully behind us, what lies ahead remains wholly uncertain. However, amongst strong activity in the spot market, some consensus has also emerged for periods covering the balance of the year and into Q1-27. Portfolios are taking positions down the curve at rates largely in line with current Atlantic spot, supported by higher LNG prices and anticipation of competition between basins in the second half of the year,” the Oslo-based advisory and brokering firm said.
Fearnley LNG said that it continues to see signs of “weak underlying fundamentals in the spot market, with length beginning to build on TFDE’s in the East and new requirements often flushing out fresh 2-stroke availabilities for short spot employment in the Atlantic.”
“However, the same cannot be said for term availabilities, where 2-strokes are beginning to thin out and TFDE’s under independent control are less forthcoming when asked to lock in prevailing spot levels for longer period,” it said.
“It remains to be seen which strategy will pay off but with summer looming and speculation that tonne-miles could take another boost in the third quarter, we are eager to see how this plays out,” Fearnley LNG added.
Reduced demand for delivery slots in Northwestern Europe
In Europe, the SparkNWE DES LNG dropped compared to last week.
“The SparkNWE front-month DES LNG price for May delivery is assessed at TTF-$0.345, narrowing 10c in the last two weeks and indicating reduced demand for delivery slots into Northwestern Europe. The outright NWE DES LNG price is now at $15.465/MMBtu,” Afghan said.
“The US prompt (M+1) arb to Asia via COGH, having hovered near breakeven levels for much of this week, is now once again pointing to Asia at +$0.184/MMBtu,” he said.
Afghan added that “the US M+1 arb via Panama remains open and firmly pointing to Asia for the ninth week running, now priced at +$0.860/MMBtu – the strongest signal to Asia via the canal since mid-March.”
Data by Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) shows that volumes in gas storages in the EU rose from last week and were 32.49 percent full on April 30, 2026.
Gas storages were 30.82 percent full on April 23, 2026, and 39.22 percent full on April 30, 2025.
JKM
In Asia, JKM, the price for LNG cargoes delivered to Northeast Asia in June 2026 settled at $16.905/MMBtu on Thursday.
Last week, JKM for June settled at 16.550/MMBtu on Friday, April 24.
Front-month JKM rose to 16.555/MMBtu on Monday, It dropped to 16.480/MMBtu on Tuesday and rose to 16.965/MMBtu on Wednesday.