SINGAPORE, June 14 (Reuters) - Asian spot liquefied

natural gas (LNG) prices rose to a six-month top this week, on

the back of cooling demand in India, higher forecast

temperatures in northeast Asia and suspended production at an

Australian gas facility.

The average LNG price for July delivery into north-east Asia

was at $12.60 per million British thermal units

(mmBtu), its highest levels since December 15, industry sources

estimated.

The August delivery price was estimated at $12.70/mmBtu.

"The strength of demand in Asia has provided some support to

prices and differentials ... The level of tendering activity has

remained high due to a combination of fundamental drivers across

countries, including strong economic activity, hot weather,

challenging upstream production and restocking demand," said

Lucas Schmitt, research director on short-term LNG at Wood

Mackenzie.

"We expect Asian summer LNG demand to increase year-on-year,

but at a softer rate than in the last few months. Inventories

for key northeast Asian markets seem broadly balanced."

Spot demand from India remains strong as a heatwave

persists, but northeast Asian buying activity has mainly been

for trade optimization despite the meteorological agencies of

Japan and Korea forecasting a 50% probability of above-normal

temperatures in June and July, said Rystad Energy analyst Lu

Ming Pang in a note.

"Despite the impending warm weather forecasts, there is

still a lack of significant market activity, which may suggest

sufficient supplies for the summer season ahead. At current

prices, it is likely that Northeast Asian players will bide

their time to evaluate developments in summer requirements."

On the supply side, Chevron had suspended production at its

Wheatstone gas facility in Australia to repair the platform's

fuel gas system. It has commenced repair work, which is expected

to be completed in the coming weeks.

The production suspension supported Europe gas prices this

week. S&P Global Commodity Insights assessed its daily North

West Europe LNG Marker (NWM) price benchmark for cargoes

delivered in July on an ex-ship (DES) basis at $11.151/mmBtu on

June 13, a $0.07/mmBtu discount to the July gas price at the

Dutch TTF hub.

Argus assessed the July delivery price at $11.10/mmBtu,

while Spark Commodities assessed it at $11.122/mmBtu.

But low European demand for gas has kept storage levels at

record highs this year, with Wood Mackenzie forecasting gas

storage will be full by end-September and remain full until

end-October, with an additional 4 million metric tonnes per

annum (tpa) of floating storage also accumulated.

"Limitations on European injection demand this summer and

weak downstream consumption continue to weigh on the region's

LNG receipts," said Samuel Good, head of LNG pricing at

commodity pricing agency Argus.

"An open inter-basin arbitrage for Atlantic loadings is

continuing to draw LNG away from Europe and to Asia instead,

where demand has remained strong even as Asian spot delivered

prices have risen well into the double digits."

Meanwhile, LNG freight rates experienced sharp increases

this week, said Spark Commodities analyst Qasim Afghan, with the

Atlantic spot rate rising to $64,250/day on Friday, and the

Pacific rate gaining to $48,000/day.