a liquefied natural gas lng tanker is tugged towards a thermal power station in futtsu east of tokyo japan november 13 2017 reutersissei kato london feb 4 reuters  asian spot liquefied natural gas lng fell this week tracking gas prices in europe amid muted demand from china as the lunar new year holiday reduced trading activity in northeast asia the average lng price for march delivery into northeast asia fell to 2500 per metric million british thermal units mmbtu down 200 or 74 from the previous week industry sources said the average price for april delivery was seen at 2750mmbtu they added lng prices are set for continued volatility as we head through the rest of winter european gas fundamentals are softening with lng imports hitting record highs while russian pipeline imports are recovering from their slow start to 2022 said edmund siau lng analyst at consultancy fge however the european gas market remains tight and russiaukraine tensions mean that a healthy risk premium is baked into current ttf dutch gas prices several asian buyers have reemerged to purchase cargoes to replace inventories and we expect more spot procurement activity in the coming weeks he added europe continues to be reliant on lng amid low russian gas supply the arbitrage between asia and europe  or cargo diversion from one market to another  has been shifting back and forth and there is a risk that european lng imports could slow in case of any increase in asian demand and prices cooler weather expected across the main northeast asian markets could prompt demand from endusers and support prices there going forward refinitiv gas analysts said earlier on thursday russia agreed a 30year contract to supply gas to china via a new pipeline under which chinese state energy major cnpc will get 10 billion cubic metres of gas a year a step that will affect the countrys lng import outlook read more piped gas from russia can be supplied to northern china at prices that are competitive when compared with lng said ken kiat lee analyst at consultancy fge the international energy agency iea said in report this week that china will remain the single largest country contributor to lng import growth but its growth rate could drop to 9 in 2022 from 17 in 2021 due to the rampup of pipeline flows from russia and an overall slowdown in gas demand growth global lng trade expanded by 6 last year from 1 in 2020 according to the iea but growth is expected to decline to 4 this year pacific lng freight spot rates fell further to 19250 per day on friday while atlantic rates fell to 2250 per day according to henry bennitt at data intelligence firm spark commodities a negative atlantic freight rate would indicate that the hire payment received for chartering out a vessel in the atlantic basin does not cover the fuel cost of ballasting back to the loadport