By Oleg Vukmanovic
LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Asian spot LNG prices rose this week on continued tight supply following lengthy output disruptions at two major Australian projects as well as ongoing demand from importers.
Spot prices LNG-AS for December delivery rose to $9.15 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), 15 cents above last week's levels.
Export operations from Royal Dutch Shell's 8.5 million-tonnes-per-annum Queensland Curtis export facility in Australia resumed this week after entering maintenance on Oct. 6, data on the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) website showed.
The plant began receiving feed gas supply on Oct. 19, according to AEMO data.
Adding to tightness, exports from Chevron's Gorgon plant in northwest Australia were constrained through September and October due to train maintenance that likely began on Sept. 11, traders and market sources said.
The affected production unit at Gorgon recently resumed output and the plant was slowly ramping up, one trader said.
As relatively high spot prices pushed past the resistance level of oil-indexed contract levels, Indian buyer Petronet re-entered the market for a mid-December cargo, potentially indicating that even conservative buyers were willing to pay up. Petronet receives long-term supply from Gorgon under a deal with stakeholder Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), suggesting the Indian importer may be seeking replacement supply via spot markets.
A fill for that demand could come from Exxon's Papua New Guinea LNG export project, which is offering a cargo loading in mid-December. which recently held a four-cargo tender for January delivery, is seeking four shipments in February. Rico has resumed importing LNG following a seven-week hiatus after Hurricane Maria caused widespread damage to the country's electricity grid. LNG is offering a Nov. 14-16 loading cargo. Gas Corp, South Korea's biggest importer, has so far stayed out of spot markets as it pulled in additional supply under long-term contracts, but traders say the company might be considering spot purchases.
China has been a major source of demand this winter, contributing to the near-doubling of prices from 2017 lows in June. country has moved millions of households from burning dirty coal to natural gas this year, pushing up import demand amid an already tightening overall Asian market.
With spreads between Europe and Asian gas markets wide, France's Engie is expected to be the latest to perform a reload from a French terminal, likely Montoir, two traders said.
Another factor supporting spot prices is uncertainty over the start-up of new LNG export plants in Russia, Yamal, and the United States, Cove Point, traders said.
For example, Yamal was expected to export two cargoes in November and four in December, but traders are now tempering their expectations.
However, Australia's Wheatstone project, after starting production this month, has shipped its first export cargo to a buyer in Japan, removing doubt as to its operational readiness.
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