European delivered LNG imports in Dec at 10.36 million mt

Europe's delivered imports of LNG in December were at 10.36 million mt as of Dec. 27, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights data, or around 94% of the November level, which was the highest since May.

European imports were up 2.96 million mt since the last update on Dec. 18.

The volumes for December were headed to France (2.04 million mt), the UK (1.54 million mt), Turkey (1.47 million mt), the Netherlands (1.18 million mt), Spain (880,000 mt), Belgium (870,000 mt), Italy (810,000 mt), Germany (430,000 mt), Poland (380,000 mt), Portugal (300,000 mt), Croatia (140,000 mt), Greece (140,000 mt), Finland (120,000 mt), and Lithuania (70,000 mt).

The US is supplier of 53% of the total, with some 13% coming from Russia and 8% from Algeria. Qatar also contributed around 8% of the supply.

Ample supply

While demand remains muted and inventories across Europe remain comfortable, rising tensions in the Middle East, amid the attacks on ships in the Red Sea, heightened market sentiment somewhat.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed the DES Northwest Europe Marker for February at $10.374/MMBtu Dec. 22, down 3 cents/MMBtu on the day but up 61.1 cents/MMBtu on the week.

Although market sentiment remains bearish, analysts at S&P Global suggested that support may be seen toward the close of 2023 as traders look to close their annual trading books.

"Weak weather-adjusted residential consumption, poor economic fundamentals and improving nonthermal generation are suppressing demand, while the biggest supply sources of Norwegian pipeline and LNG are joined by Ukrainian storage withdrawals to keep EU storage capacity very full for the time of year," Lucien Mulberg, analyst, and James Taverner, senior director, at S&P Global said.