Widened Panama Canal to Open June 26; U.S. LNG Supplies Expected to Remain in Atlantic Basin
Posted on Jun 10, 2016 in Liquefaction, LNG Exports, Markets and Competition, Vessel Transportation | Comments Off on Widened Panama Canal to Open June 26; U.S. LNG Supplies Expected to Remain in Atlantic Basin
Hellenic Shipping News reports that the Panama Canal widening project is expected to be inaugurated June 26, allowing it to accommodate large LNG tankers and permitting U.S. Gulf Coast LNG producers to reduce the shipping time to markets in Asia by approximately ten days. However, according to an analyst, “prices in the Pacific aren’t currently high enough to create a large arbitrage opportunity to send gas from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Asian markets[,]” so “[m]ost of the LNG produced in the U.S. will remain in the Atlantic Basin for the foreseeable future because of the price collapse and the sheer amount of [LNG] volume that is going to be appearing in Asia.”