France's Total sees Q1 equity LNG sales price dip to $6.32/MMBtu

London — France's Total said Wednesday its average realized sales price for equity LNG in the first quarter of 2020 was $6.32/MMBtu, down by 20 cents/MMBtu from the previous quarter.

It is the first time Total has published an average sales price for its LNG, with the major saying it introduced the price to allow for a "better understanding" of the company's integrated gas business unit performance.

"It represents the selling price of LNG equity production," Total said in a note.

The Q1 average sales price of $6.32/MMBtu was 12% lower than the price in Q1 2019 -- the first quarter of published prices.

However, its Q1 2020 average LNG sales price was well up on the average JKM spot LNG price in the period, as assessed by S&P Global Platts, of $3.62/MMBtu.

A large amount of long-term LNG supply globally is contracted on an oil-indexed basis, meaning term LNG has been able to secure a better price than spot LNG, which has been under significant pressure due to the oversupplied global market.

However, with the recent oil price collapse, oil-indexed LNG will become cheaper for term buyers in the coming months.

In 2019, Total's equity LNG sales amounted to 16.3 million mt, up 47% from the previous year.

Overall, LNG sales were up 57% on the year in 2019 at 34.3 million mt.

The increase was due to the ramp-up of the Yamal LNG facility in Russia and Australia's Ichthys plant, as well as the startup of the first Cameron LNG train in the US.

Total also published Wednesday its average global gas price of $3.35/MMBtu, which was down by 26% year on year and by 11% quarter on quarter.