Hurdles face putative Asia-Pacific LNG hubs
Singapore, Shanghai and Japan all wish to become trading hubs and price-reporting agencies are trying to establish benchmarks
Since 2010, Asia-Pacific, historically the world's dominant liquefied natural gas-buying region, has increased its share of the market by 10 percentage points—it now accounts for 70% of global imports. Yet despite this hulking market position, the region lags well behind the US and Europe in developing tradeable indices that would allow market players to hedge price exposure and increase liquidity. This may be changing. Recent increases in short-term contracting and gas-to-gas price competition have encouraged many to believe that the region, which includes the world's four largest buyers of LNG (Japan, China, South Korea, and Taiwan), may be on the verge of developing local mechanisms that
Also in this section
16 January 2026
The country’s global energy importance and domestic political fate are interlocked, highlighting its outsized oil and gas powers, and the heightened fallout risk
16 January 2026
The global maritime oil transport sector enters 2026 facing a rare convergence of crude oversupply, record newbuild deliveries and the potential easing of several geopolitical disruptions that have shaped trade flows since 2022
15 January 2026
Rebuilding industry, energy dominance and lower energy costs are key goals that remain at odds in 2026
14 January 2026
Chavez’s socialist reforms boosted state control but pushed knowledge and capital out of the sector, opening the way for the US shale revolution
