The cash margin for U.S. LNG exporters improved slightly in the second quarter, but will likely remain negative for the duration of 2020, according to a new report. The LNG glut is hurting both buyers and sellers. In Japan, the largest power generator, JERA, is losing tens of billions of yen because it has contracted to buy LNG at prices linked to crude oil, but because it cannot use all of the gas, it typically resells some cargoes. The problem is that JERA has to resell cargoes on the spot market, where prices are much lower than the oil-linked price. In effect, the group is buying high and selling low. The worldwide glut has funneled more natural gas into storage around the world. With storage elevated in Europe, the market signaled that supply cuts were necessary. The U.S., which has the most flexible contracting terms (which the industry sold […]