Asian natural-gas buyers are being hit in the pocket by a combination of drought and heat in South America, as well as the coming World Cup soccer tournament. Liquefied natural gas available for sale on the spot market, which might normally be shipped to Asia by sea from the Atlantic basin, has for the past two months or so been snapped up by Brazil. The country needs to offset shortfalls in hydroelectricity output caused by dry weather. It also is building up fuel reserves to avoid embarrassing power cuts during the World Cup, which starts on June 12. Argentina has also been buying more. Extremely hot weather earlier in the Southern Hemisphere summer and shortages of domestic gas used to make electricity continue to boost its demand for imports. In a development that illustrates how gas markets are becoming more global, buying by both countries has left less fuel […]