NOCs find allure in LNG trading

Traditionally conservative players are embracing more flexible approaches

Optimisation is the new name of the game for many NOC LNG exporters, from Southeast Asia to the Middle East. They have finally embraced trading in order to keep up with a rapidly changing landscape almost unrecognisable from the market they first entered. NOCs have been selling LNG since the 1970s, but only in the last decade or so have they made headway in terms of trading. Building a liquefaction plant was about monetising natural resources; optimisation is about value creation from every molecule of LNG produced. Gone are the days of single point-to-point LNG contracts, while US liquefaction played a key role in ushering in a new level of commercial flexibility. NOC producers must now re-