This note is part of Market Perspectives, a short editorial series in which IndoPac Energy records its own view of conditions in the markets it covers. It is not a recommendation, an offer, or a solicitation, and should be read alongside the firm's compliance posture.

The terms LNG intermediary, LNG broker, and LNG trader are used interchangeably in parts of the market — but they describe meaningfully different roles. Understanding the distinction matters whether you are a buyer seeking supply, a seller seeking demand, or a counterparty assessing who you are dealing with.

What an LNG trader does.

An LNG trader takes principal positions in the market. They buy and sell LNG cargoes on their own account, assume price risk, and take title to physical volumes at some point in the transaction. Major commodity trading firms — including portfolio traders with integrated supply and offtake books — fall into this category.

The trader's revenue comes from the margin between their buy and sell positions, from portfolio optimisation, or from price movements in cargoes they hold. They are counterparties in the commercial sense: when you transact with a trader, you are transacting with an entity that has assumed market exposure.

What an LNG broker does.

A broker facilitates transactions between buyers and sellers without taking principal risk. Brokers typically operate in both physical and financial LNG markets, providing price discovery, matching counterparties, and earning a commission on completed transactions. Some brokers operate as regulated entities in specific jurisdictions, particularly where their activity touches financial instruments.

The distinction between brokerage and intermediation is partly definitional and partly regulatory. In practice, the term broker is used broadly across the LNG market, sometimes describing entities whose actual function is closer to intermediation or introduction than to traditional brokerage in the financial sense.

What an LNG intermediary and introducer does.

An LNG intermediary connects buyers and sellers, facilitates the introduction process, and earns commission when transactions close — without taking title to cargoes, assuming principal risk, or acting as a broker-dealer in any regulated financial sense.

The intermediary's value lies in counterparty quality and introduction discipline: knowing who the credible buyers and sellers are in a given region, applying rigorous counterparty review before making introductions, and ensuring that the parties brought together have a genuine commercial basis to engage. This is distinct from circulating mandates broadly or operating as a conduit in an intermediary chain.

"IndoPac Energy operates as an intermediary and introducer — never as principal, title holder, or financial broker-dealer. Our role is to improve the quality of introductions, not to insert ourselves into the transaction itself."

Why the distinction matters.

For a buyer or seller engaging with any of these counterparty types, the distinction has practical implications. A trader is a commercial counterparty with its own book, its own risk appetite, and its own commercial agenda. A broker may carry regulatory obligations depending on jurisdiction. An intermediary's obligations run to the quality of the introduction and the integrity of the process — not to a position on a trading book.

In the LNG market across Asia-Pacific — particularly in South Asia and Southeast Asia — the counterparty landscape includes all three types, as well as entities that describe themselves in these terms without the underlying commercial substance to support it. Understanding which category a counterparty actually falls into is a reasonable starting point for any serious engagement. See our transaction scope for how IndoPac Energy defines its own role.