SGX Launches LNG Spot Index for Dubai, Kuwait, India

Singapore Exchange (SGX) and Tullett Prebon have launched an LNG spot index for Dubai, Kuwait and India (DKI) to enhance price discovery and risk management in one of the fastest-growing regions for LNG spot trading, SGX said March 31.

The DKI Sling offers a reference price for LNG delivered ex-ship under flexible terms to key ports in the three countries. It provides a physical price marker as the industry moves away from oil-linked pricing and towards gas-on-gas pricing, SGX added.

SGX’s wholly owned subsidiary, Energy Market Company (EMC), as the index administrator, will publish the DKI Sling every Monday and Thursday. The new index was developed with London-based Tullett Prebon, one of the world’s largest brokers of physical LNG cargoes. The first print on March 30 was $5.421/mmBtu.

The DKI Sling is the third in the SGX LNG Index Group or Sling series of indices. It follows the Singapore Sling launched in October 2015, which serves as a reference point for the developing southeast Asian market, and the north Asia Sling introduced in September 2016, which is a spot price for the traditional centre of global LNG demand.

Price-reporting agencies have been providing Asian spot LNG prices daily for some years, the numbers being based on reported and rumoured month-ahead trades which have been less frequent than daily.

Shardul Sharma