The price of spot cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Asia has broken its long-standing link to crude oil this year, a development likely to fuel tensions in an already unsettled market. Spot LNG was assessed at $4.65 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) in the week to May 20, which is 35 percent down from $6.90 at the end of last year, although slightly higher than the low so far this year of $4, reached in mid-April. In contrast, global benchmark Brent crude pushed above $50 a barrel on Thursday, up around a third from the start of the year. Although LNG and crude aren’t competing fuels there has traditionally been a strong link between them, given that long-term LNG contracts have been linked to oil prices, and this has in […]