Power to the buyers

LNG importers now have the upper hand when signing new supply deals – and even rejigging existing contracts

THE WORLD of liquefied natural gas has been turned upside down. A business that was for decades run according to the whims of sellers is now in the palm of buyers. With a flood of supplies from new projects in Australia and the US about to hit the market, the established LNG market is fraying. Buyers are creating new types of deals, sometimes in new importing countries, and LNG exporters are being dragged into a new era of flexible contracts. China’s biggest energy company has joined India in seeking to renegotiate long-term LNG supply deals. CNPC wants to rework the prices in its contract with Qatar, its chairman Wang Yilin said at the beginning of March. India’s Petronet stole a march in D