Petronas has asked some lifters of LNG from the Malaysia LNG Tiga project to defer some cargo loadings from the Bintulu terminal in August by more than a week, sources familiar with the matter told S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Other lifters of MLNG Tiga also received requests to defer LNG cargo loadings by several days, sources said.
The sources attributed LNG cargo deferments to a recent glitch at heat exchanger affecting at least one train at the Petronas-operated MLNG Tiga, which has Train 7 and Train 8.
"Not sure the exact issues that Bintulu is experiencing but Petronas is trying to exercise minimum tolerance," a trader said.
Petronas did not respond to a request for comment.
The news of some LNG cargo deferments comes in the middle of peak summer power demand season in Northeast Asia, where maximum temperatures have been hovering well above 30 C in recent weeks.
Bintulu shipments
MLNG Tiga's Train 7 and Train 8 export around 84-88 cargoes combined each year, or more than half a dozen cargoes each month. A bulk of the shipments is shipped to Japan, with lifters including Osaka Gas, Toho Gas, Tohoku Electric, Tokyo Gas, as well as CNOOC and Kogas, LNG shipping brokers said. Shipments have been deferred, not cancelled, they said.
Bintulu LNG has three trains each at MLNG and MLNG Dua, two trains at MLNG Tiga and a ninth train operated by Petronas. The whole complex has nearly 30 million mt/year of capacity, which is among the largest LNG export capacities of its kind at a single location.
The Malaysia LNG-chartered Puteri Nilam left the Bintulu terminal on Aug. 5 and is estimated to arrive in Incheon on Aug. 23, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data.
It followed the departure of the Petronas-chartered Lagenda Serenity, which left the Bintulu terminal on Aug. 1 is and estimated to arrive at Shanghai on Aug. 7, according to CAS.
The Malaysia LNG-chartered Fuji LNG is currently moored at the Bintulu terminal, according to CAS.
Asian LNG prices fell on Aug. 5 amid muted spot LNG demand in the East Asia region despite rising temperatures.
Platts, part of Commodity Insights, assessed JKM, the benchmark price for Northeast Asia, for September at $12.772/MMBtu on Aug. 5, down 1.11% on the day. (August 5, 2024)
MALAYSIA - LNG - SUPPLIES - IMPORTS - EXPORTS