Gas breaks the oil price link
The proportion of LNG priced on an oil-indexed basis fell to its lowest ever level in 2019
The LNG industry broke records last year in terms of global trade volumes, sanctioned new capacity and the share of spot shipments. An annual survey of wholesale gas prices and price formation mechanisms conducted by lobby group the International Gas Union (IGU) throws up another—the global share of oil and oil products price-linked LNG dipped below 60pc for the first time. The IGU began regularly surveying world wholesale gas pricing in 2005, initially every couple of years and annually from 2012. For much of that period, the story was one of a shift from oil-price escalation (OPE) to gas-on-gas (GOG) competition—mainly because of changes in long-term pipeline gas contracts in Europe as oil
Also in this section
4 March 2026
The continent’s inventories were already depleted before conflict erupted in the Middle East, causing prices to spike ahead of the crucial summer refilling season
4 March 2026
The US president has repeatedly promised to lower gasoline prices, but this ambition conflicts with his parallel aim to increase drilling and could be upended by his war against Iran
4 March 2026
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following US-Israel strikes and Iran’s retaliatory escalation, Fujairah has become the region’s critical pressure release valve—and is now under serious threat
3 March 2026
The killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in US–Israeli strikes marks the most serious escalation in the region in decades and a bigger potential threat to the oil market than the start of the Russia-Ukraine crisis
