Natural gas prices in Asia mainly linked to crude oil, but use of spot indexes increases

Unlike the natural gas market in the United States, natural gas prices in Asian markets typically reflect contracts that are indexed to crude oil or petroleum product prices. However, Asian countries are developing regional trading hubs so that natural gas prices better reflect natural gas market dynamics. In 2014, almost 30% of global LNG was traded on a spot and short-term basis, of which Asia Pacific trade accounted for three quarters of the total. More »