LNG trade in 2020 has remained fairly resilient compared with other energy commodities, with single-digit year-on-year growth expected despite the impact of COVID-19 in the spring. Since May, when the JKM spot price bottomed out below $2/MMBtu due to oversupply, the market has enjoyed a sustained rally, the JKM increasing more than six-fold.

This has been down to an unprecedented supply-side response, with US LNG cancellations starting to rebalance the market through the summer, followed by strong winter buying demand from Asian buyers in the fall and a number of supply-side issues boosting prices.