Netbacks

Cargo Subscription Required

Contact us to discuss our Premium plans at commercial@sparkcommodities.com

Looking to pull our Netbacks Data?

Visit our Python Code Examples section to download our Netbacks code sample, the quickest way to start pulling Netbacks data.

The Netbacks API endpoints allow you to access data and functionalities available in the Cargo platform’s Netbacks tool. It provides $/MMBtu forward curves for LNG netbacks from Northwest Europe (NWE) and Northeast Asia (NEA) to major FOB locations globally.

The netback forward curves combine the Routes LNG freight cost curves from the Spark LNG Freight platform with the forward curves from the Spark Cargo platform to derive NWE, NEA and max netback forward curves for FOB locations. This tool is designed to provide valuations for FOB cargos and insight into which basin LNG cargoes from different FOB locations are likely to be sent to based on current forward freight and LNG pricing.

The forward curves extend to the longest dated month possible which will vary by FOB location depending on the assumed cargo delivery dates for NWE and NEA.

Full details of the inputs and calculations for these netbacks are contained within our methodology.

Netbacks are released at 00:00 GMT.

Note

If you have any questions regarding our historical data, please contact data@sparkcommodities.com.

Below is a typical step-by-step process of accessing specific netback datasets.

Code Sample 🚀

For a step-by-step Python (Jupyter Notebook) example of accessing and formatting the Spark API Netbacks data, please visit our Github page.

Get Netbacks Reference Data

/v1.0/netbacks/reference-data/

This Netback endpoint needs to be used to show the available Netbacks data.

This endpoint retrieves four sets of data:

• The Route ID
• The FOB port
• The Via point of the route (Suez, Panama etc .)
• The available release dates

These parameters are used to call the Netbacks data for a specific port (see below). It’s important to note that Netbacks data is not available for all the Route IDs or FOB ports retrieved from this endpoint. A way to check whether Netbacks data is available for a specific port is to check the associated Via point value for that port. If it’s an empty list, then that signifies the data is not available for this port. However, new data is being added to the Spark platform constantly, so netbacks data for these ports could be added in our rolling updates.

Please check the API Changelog to keep updated on changes. If you’d like to request netbacks for a specific FOB port, then please let us know via email or by clicking on Request Additional Netback on the Netbacks Platform page.

See API Reference

Get Netback

/v1.0/netbacks/

After choosing the FOB port you wish to call, you can append the parameters to the URL to retrieve netbacks data for that port.

Parameters

These input parameters are saved from the previous reference-data URL we called:

• fob-port
  • Required Parameter
  • E.g. fob-port={fob-port-id}
• via-point
  • Optional parameter
  • e.g. via-point=panama
• release-date
  • Optional parameter
  • Release date of data you want to call
  • Available dates are listed when calling the reference-data endpoint
  • Equally, you can raw input your own release date (yyyy-mm-dd)
• laden-congestion-days
  • Optional parameter only applicable when via-point=panama
  • The number of Panama congestion delays, in the laden leg, to account for in the Netbacks calculation
  • Default is 0, available values can be found in Get Netbacks Reference Data (data.staticData.ladenBallastDays), when specified, the combination of laden-congestion-days and ballast-congestion-days must be in the list of data.staticData.ladenBallastDay.
• ballast-congestion-days
  • Optional parameter only applicable when via-point=panama
  • The number of Panama congestion delays, in the ballast leg, to account for in the Netbacks calculation
  • Default is 0, available values can be found in Get Netbacks Reference Data (data.staticData.ladenBallastDays), when specified, the combination of laden-congestion-days and ballast-congestion-days must be in the list of data.staticData.ladenBallastDay.
• percent-hire
  • Optional parameter
  • Percentage of Freight Hire cost included in the Netback
  • Default is 100, available values are 0 and 100.

Example URL: /v1.0/netbacks/?fob-port=e27bf478-92df-43f0-876a-6e730a268c8f&release-date=2023-10-12&via-point=cogh

With these parameters input, a JSON of your data will be output by the API, containing all the netbacks data for your chosen FOB port. The data provided is the same as the data seen on the Cargo platform’s Netbacks tool, which includes:

• Setup parameters (FOB Port, Via point, Release Date)
• Loading Date
• Information on delivery to NWE and NEA respectively
  • Delivery date
  • Outright price
  • Diff to the TTF price
  • The breakdown of these prices (DES LNG price, route cost etc.)
• NEA - NWE value
• Assumptions used in calculating the NEA and NWE prices (vessel type etc.)

This data is provided for each month, for the 11 months following the release date chosen. All prices are in $/MMBtu.

Unlimited access to historical data is only available to those with a premium subscription. Get in touch to find out more.

See API Reference

Need to see an example output?

Checkout our API Data Explorer Tool to get an overview of the API format and to quickly select important elements of the output.