• 3 minutes e-car sales collapse
  • 6 minutes America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide
  • 11 minutes Perovskites, a ‘dirt cheap’ alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient
  • 6 hours GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES
  • 13 mins Could Someone Give Me Insights on the Future of Renewable Energy?
  • 15 hours How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy
  • 2 days "What’s In Store For Europe In 2023?" By the CIA (aka RFE/RL as a ruse to deceive readers)
  • 14 hours e-truck insanity
  • 4 days Bankruptcy in the Industry
  • 1 day Oil Stocks, Market Direction, Bitcoin, Minerals, Gold, Silver - Technical Trading <--- Chris Vermeulen & Gareth Soloway weigh in
  • 5 days The United States produced more crude oil than any nation, at any time.

North Asian Oil, Gas Prices Set To Rise As Winter Is Coming Early

An early winter spell in North Asia is expected to raise oil, gas, and coal demand for power plants and domestic heating, which means there are big chances that fossil fuel prices in the region would further increase, analysts believe.

According to experts in commodity markets, the La Nina weather pattern - which results in colder than usual temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean – is responsible for the lower-than-normal temperatures in South Korea, China and Japan.

China’s oil production plunged to a seven-year-low in October as oil producers are still hesitant to raise crude output without knowing where oil prices are heading.

For coal, Chinese imports jumped with winter demand and lower domestic production as the country is trying to fight air pollution, according to Reuters. As a result, the price of coal in Asia has doubled in the past five months.

The strong demand is also leading to a surge in LNG prices in Asia, and it has already jumped to a one-year high.

“Compared to where we've seen coal and gas prices in spring and summer, we'll see stronger growth (in prices) over the next three months,” Gavin Thompson, head of China research at commodity consultancy Wood Mackenzie, told Reuters.

South Korea is also feeling the chill, with oil refiners there expect heating oil demand to increase and lead to higher refining margins. Refineries are running at full capacity and are shifting towards refining more kerosene and less jet fuel, traders polled by Reuters say.

Asia’s oil refining margins have jumped by 54 percent over the past month and a half.

ADVERTISEMENT

South Korea’s imports of coal ticked up last month, but are down this month; in Japan, coal imports have been steady in September through November, according to data by Thomson Reuters Eikon.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:



Join the discussion | Back to homepage



Leave a comment

Leave a comment

EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
Oilprice - The No. 1 Source for Oil & Energy News