Price Assessment

Platts GCM™ (Gulf Coast Marker) LNG Price Assessment

  • What is Platts GCM™?
  • How do we assess GCM™?
  • Evolution of the GCM™ Price Assessment

What is Platts GCM™?

On June 16, 2016, S&P Global launched the Platts GCM™ (Platts Gulf Coast Marker), a price assessment reflecting the daily export value of LNG traded free on board (FOB) from the US Gulf Coast.

Platts GCM™ reflects bids, offers and transactions on an FOB US basis, normalized to the US Gulf Coast, and expressed USD per British thermal units (MMBtu). The natural gas infrastructure that intersects the United States, Mexico and Canada is the world's largest and most integrated natural gas market. The US is expected to be the world's largest LNG producer by 2023, overtaking both Qatar and Australia, which are currently the largest and second largest, respectively.

Unlike Australia, Qatar, and other large LNG exporting nations, US LNG does not have destination restrictions. There is also much more flexibility around offtake volumes. These factors make US LNG attractive for buyers and sellers looking to trade on a short term basis.

As the market continues to transact more often on a short term/spot basis, US LNG prices will gradually play a growing role in influencing the price of LNG around the world.

How do we assess GCM™?

GCM™ reflects the daily tradable value of a spot LNG cargo at the given loading period, based on trades, bids and offers observed by our pricing specialists, or in the absence of trade where a spot cargo may have been concluded.

During the daily price discovery process, we survey as broad a cross-section of the market as possible, including traders, producers, shippers, end-users and brokers. Market players are regularly contacted by phone, instant-message, email or face to face meetings by our global team of pricing analysts.

Information pertaining to current shipping costs and market supply/demand fundamentals -- such as production maintenances, tender issues, shipping and cargo movements and weather data -- is also taken into consideration during the GCM™ price assessment process.

We publish reported bids, offers and trades during our MOC assessment process every day through real time services Platts Natural Gas Alert and Platts LNG Navigator.

In the absence of transactional data, our price reporters determine the most valuable netback for an exporter of US LNG based on prevailing market values in global demand centers such as Northeast Asia and Europe.

The GCM™ assessment is published each business day and reflects market values prevailing at the close of US markets, at 14:30 (EST) on a standard ship size as defined by our LNG methodology.

Evolution of the GCM™ Price Assessment

The launch of Platts GCM™ followed a prolonged period of consultation with and feedback from the LNG industry, market participants and other stakeholders. It complements Platts JKM™, the established benchmark price for spot LNG globally, and our broader suite of LNG price references serving the Middle East, Australia, West India, Brazil, and Southwest and Northwest Europe.

Our LNG price references are published in Platts LNG Daily, the first daily independent news publication for the global LNG industry, and LNG Navigator, a fully customizable analysis and data platform.