石油设备网讯 普氏能源资讯5月20日布鲁塞尔报道，美国石油学会(American Petroleum Institute)表示，灵活的美国液化天然气合约正帮助创建一个全球化、商品化的现货市场，并改变项目融资模式。
API政策官员达斯汀•迈耶(Dustin Meyer)周一接受标普全球普氏能源资讯(S&P Global Platts)采访时表示，美国可能在今年年底前成为全球第三大液化天然气出口国，仅次于卡塔尔和澳大利亚，并将为市场带来“前所未有”的定价和合同条款选择。
他表示:“美国液化天然气的美妙之处在于，没有人真正知道它将如何定价，这对潜在买家来说，是一种独特的灵活性和选择性。”
数十年来，液化天然气买家在定价方面“实际上只有一个选择”——与布伦特原油挂钩。
美国液化天然气出口项目的第一波浪潮(目前正在上线)，通常使用与美国Henry Hub相关的价格。
第二次浪潮的开发商现在正在考虑签订合同，他们正在采取更灵活的方式来吸引买家。有许多选择，包括混合方法，其中价格部分与Henry Hub挂钩，部分与欧洲Hub价格挂钩，如荷兰TTF或英国NBP。
“也许你可以加入一点布伦特原油。也许你会全部购买布伦特原油，”迈耶表示。
一些开发商甚至提供了与西德克萨斯中心的一些连接，那里的价格可能非常低，甚至为负，因为那里还没有与海岸的连接，无法出口过剩的天然气。
他说:“这确实是一项前所未有的创新，最终让买家受益。”
迈耶认为，在美国以及亚洲和欧洲，价格变得更加透明是一种趋势。
“这让项目开发变得容易得多。这是液化天然气市场日趋成熟的一个迹象，因为它正走向商品化。
他表示:“你进入现货市场越多，金融投资者就越愿意在新的出口项目上冒险，这就更有可能增加在线产能。”
薛珂 摘译自 普氏能源资讯
原文如下：
Flexible US LNG contracts driving global spot market growth: API
Flexible US LNG contracts are helping to create a global, commoditized spot market and transforming project financing models, according to US oil and gas trade body the American Petroleum Institute.
The US could become the world's third largest LNG exporter by the end of this year, after Qatar and Australia, and is bringing "unprecedented" options for pricing and contract terms to the market, API policy officer Dustin Meyer told S&P Global Platts in an interview Monday.
"The beauty of US LNG is that no one really knows how it will be priced, and that's a unique amount of flexibility, of optionality, for potential buyers," he said.
For decades LNG buyers "really only had one option" for pricing -- linking to Brent oil.
The first wave of US LNG export projects, which are coming online now, generally used prices linked to the US Henry Hub.
Developers for the second wave, who are looking to sign contracts now, are being more flexible to attract buyers. There are many options, including hybrid approaches where prices are linked partly to Henry Hub, and partly to a European hub price, such as the Dutch TTF or UK NBP.
"Maybe you can mix in a bit of Brent oil. Maybe you go all Brent oil," Meyer said.
Some developers have even offered a bit of linkage to the West Texan hubs where prices can be very low or even negative because there are no links to the coast yet to enable surplus gas to be exported.
"It's really an unprecedented amount of innovation that ultimately benefits the buyer," he said.
Prices becoming more transparent Meyer sees a trend toward more price transparency in the US as well as Asia and Europe.
"That makes project development a lot easier. It's a sign of the maturing nature of the LNG market, as it moves closer to commoditization," he said.
"The more you get to a spot-based market, the more comfortable financial backers are taking a risk on new export projects, which makes it more likely additional capacity comes online," he said.
