* Japan power companies Aug LNG use falls 2.6 pct on year
* PNG launches two single cargoes tenders
By Sarah McFarlane
LONDON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Asian liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices slipped this week as more supply came onto the market from producers including Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, while end users in the region already looked well stocked.
The price of Asian spot cargoes for October delivery fell to about $7.20 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) on Friday, from about $7.50 per mmBtu last week.
"I don't think there's structural demand. Everybody's been noting that Japan, Korea and China are not showing a lot of demand and I think there are sporadic requirements in Thailand and Malaysia," said a trader.
Japanese power companies consumed 4.72 million tonnes of LNG in August, a fall of 2.6 percent from a year earlier, while their coal consumption rose 1.9 percent to 5.82 million tonnes, data from the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan showed. ID:nENNF9A0SI
Papua New Guinea has launched two tenders to sell single cargoes of LNG in the space of a week, while Indonesia's Bontang also launched a sell tender in what continued to be an oversupplied market. ID:nL5N11H2PF
The overhang of LNG supply could grow heavier yet as Iran hopes to bring its gas to the European Union by shipping LNG to Spain, Iran's oil minister was quoted as saying at a news conference with his Spanish counterpart. ID:nL5N11D2F8
Hedge fund shortseller Jim Chanos said on Wednesday he is betting against LNG company Cheniere Energy Inc LNG.A and that his fund had been negative on LNG for the past six months. ID:nL1N11F0QL
One of the brighter spots in the market has been new demand from the Middle East and North Africa, with both Egypt and Jordan having large outstanding tenders, due to be awarded at the end of the month.
"Strong demand from the Middle East on the back of tenders means we're not seeing Europe being flooded with LNG yet," a second trader said.
Last month, however, Italian energy group Eni ENI.MI said it had discovered potentially one of the world's largest natural-gas fields off the Egyptian coast, predicting the find could help meet Egypt's gas needs for decades. ID:nL5N1150CI
"There are some views that that can be commercialised and plugged into Egypt's gas system quickly and easily. In terms of its location a lot of the infrastructure is already in place because of the liquefaction plants on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt," said a trader.