Artic Princess at the Gate LNG terminal in Rotterdam (Image: Gate)

Spot charter rates for the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier fleet rose over 10 percent in both basins on the first assessment in September, according to Spark Commodities.

Last week, bullish momentum in the LNG freight market continued, with LNG freight rising to $122,750 per day on the Pacific Spark25 route and the Spark30S Atlantic rate rose to $114,250 per day.

Henry Bennett, Spark’s head of pricing, told LNG Prime on Friday that the Atlantic rate rose 12 percent from the prior day to $142,750 per day.

Moreover, the Atlantic rate increased 13 percent from the prior day to $137,750 per day.

As per European LNG pricing, SparkNWE DES LNG front month has moved to October 2023 deliveries on Thursday.

Last week, SparkNWE for September 2023 deliveries fell $1.621 to $9.941 per MMBtu tracking volatility in the TTF.

Bennett said on Friday that NWE DES LNG for October loadings was at $10.612/MMBtu, a $0.53 discount to the TTF gas hub price.

The TTF price for October settled at $11.074 per MMBtu on Thursday, while the JKM spot LNG price for October settled at $13.200 per MMBtu.

Natural gas prices have been volatile throughout the last month due to uncertainty about Australian LNG supplies amid the potential for strikes.

Woodside and unions representing its workers at North West Shelf offshore gas platforms reached an in-principle agreement on Wednesday last week.

However, workers at Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG plants rejected the proposed enterprise agreements and plan to start industrial action on September 7.

The Gorgon LNG plant on Barrow Island has three trains and a production capacity of some 15.5 mtpa, while the Wheatstone LNG plant near Onslow has a capacity of about 8.9 mtpa.