JKM comes of age
Exchange traded contracts settling against the Platts’ Asian LNG marker are on the rise
The key east Asian oil demand markets do not have a delivered ex-ship (Des) benchmark, the nearest being a Dubai free-on-board (Fob) price that trades relative to Brent. But some are hailing that the global LNG market, despite its relative immaturity compared to crude, does now have its Asian reference price, due to the rise in activity on Ice Japan/Korean Marker (JKM) futures. The exchanged-traded contracts, which settle against the JKM price produced by price reporting agency S&P Global Platts, have clearly seen impressive growth. Traded lots in 2018 increased by almost 240pc to more than 165,000, while open interest at the end of February topped 30,000 lots, compared to less than 12,0
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