Thailand's state-owned buyer PTT has deferred the delivery of a tendered LNG cargo until early December because of low downstream consumption, an informed source said Tuesday.
PTT bought two cargoes above $6.50/MMBtu from two separate sellers through a tender issued September 24 and closed September 29.
The first cargo was sourced from the Queensland Curtis LNG export plant in Australia and delivered aboard the Methane Julia Louise, reportedly controlled by portfolio seller BG, by November 11.
The delivery marked the first coalseam gas-to-LNG cargo received by the Bangkok-based buyer.
The second cargo was due to be delivered in the second half of November but has now been deferred until early December.
"[The seller] had some flexibility," the source said.
Lower-than-expected demand from the power generation sector, driven by slow GDP growth and mild temperatures, was the main reason for the deferral.
"[Thailand's] economy is in bad shape," the source said, adding that PTT expects no additional spot procurement for deliveries in December or January.
The early-December cargo will be the ninth spot delivery Thailand receives in 2015, totaling more than 550,000 mt of LNG, based on a delivered cargo size assumption of 62,000-64,000 mt.
This falls in the low end of PTT's additional 2015 demand forecast, made in January at between 500,000 mt and 1 million mt depending on GDP growth.
The buyer also expects to receive 2 million mt of LNG from Qatargas in 2015 as part of a 20-year contract signed in 2012.
In 2014, PTT imported around 1.4 million mt of LNG, mostly from Qatargas through a sales and purchase agreement signed by the two parties in the form of a spot contract in 2011.
