據今日油價網站5月20日消息 卡塔爾正在下調天然氣價格，并向亞洲現貨市場擴張，以期保持其在液化天然氣出口方面的領導地位。

根據彭博社引述匿名消息來源，卡塔爾已將優先權從價格轉移到市場份額，從而壓低了價格，并推動了價值290億美元的產能擴張，目標是將液化天然氣出口增加50%。

報告稱，通過這一戰略，卡塔爾將威脅世界其他地區新建液化天然氣產能項目的商業可行性。

幾年來，澳大利亞一直在緊逼卡塔爾，一度暫時超過卡塔爾，成為全球最大的液化天然氣出口國。美國也在增加其冷凍燃料的出口，上個月出口量幾乎與卡塔爾持平。

事實上，這樣做的原因是卡塔爾一家大型生產設施的維修，但這個海灣國家有理由感到受到新興競爭對手的威脅。即便如此，其仍保留了一些主要的優勢。

彭博社在報告中援引牛津能源研究所高級研究員Jonathan Stern的話報道稱：“沒有人能與卡塔爾的成本競爭。他們可以做任何他們喜歡的事情，對手都必須盡其所能進行應對。而且，特別是在市場過剩、價格低迷的情況下，這將影響競爭對手的利潤。”

然而，其他地方的一些液化天然氣供應即使價格較低也仍然具有競爭力，比如俄羅斯諾瓦泰克的亞馬爾液化天然氣和美國切尼爾能源公司的產量。這是因為買家希望不必依賴單一的液化天然氣來源，并實現燃料來源的多樣化，以及美國生產商靈活的交貨條件和價格與原油基準不再掛鉤的愿景。

王磊 摘譯自 今日油價

原文如下：

Qatar Cuts LNG Prices And Expands Into Asian Spot Market

Qatar is cutting prices for its gas and expanding into the Asian spot market as it seeks to maintain its number-one position in exports of liquefied natural gas.

According to unnamed sources cited by Bloomberg, the country has shifted its priority from prices to market share, hence the price undercutting and the push ahead with a production capacity expansion worth $29 billion. The goal is to increase LNG exports by 50 percent.

With this strategy, Qatar threatens the commercial viability of new LNG production capacity projects in the rest of the world, according to the report.

Australia has been breathing down Qatar’s neck for a couple of years now, at one point temporarily overtaking it as the world’s largest LNG exporter. The United States is also boosting its exports of the superchilled fuel. Last month exported almost as much as Qatar.

In truth, the reason for this was maintenance at a big production facility in Qatar, but the Gulf nation has reason to feel threatened by emerging competitors. Even so, it retains some major advantages over this competition.

“Nobody can compete with Qatari costs,” according to Jonathan Stern, a senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies, as quoted by Bloomberg in its report. “They can do whatever they like and everybody will have to respond the way they can. And, especially when the market is in surplus and prices are low, that will impact the competition’s profits.”

Yet some LNG supply elsewhere remains competitive even at lower prices, such as Russian Novatek’s Yamal LNG and U.S. Cheniere Energy’s output. This is because of buyers’ desire to not have to rely on a single source of LNG and diversify their sources of the fuel, and because of U.S. producers’ flexible delivery terms and the fact that their prices are not tied to crude oil benchmarks.

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