LONDON, May 24 (Reuters) - Asian spot liquefied natural

gas (LNG) prices rose for the fourth straight week and hit its

highest level in five months amid firm demand, tracking European

gas market gains amid concerns over possible disruption to

Russian gas supply.

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

rose to $12.30 per million British thermal units

(mmBtu), its highest level since mid-December and up from

$10.90/mmBtu in the previous week, industry sources estimated.

"Spot LNG prices remain strong, supported by firm demand,

unexpected outages and ongoing geopolitical risks," said Alex

Froley, senior LNG analyst at data intelligence firm ICIS.

"Asian buyers have been increasing demand to take advantage

of this year's lower prices relative to last year, with

countries including China and Thailand seeing record import

levels," he said.

Hot weather across some of the Asia region's markets has

lifted power demand, supporting purchasing activity, said Samuel

Good, head of LNG pricing at commodity pricing agency Argus,

adding that temperatures in eastern China are forecast to remain

above seasonal norms, supporting power gas burn.

In south-east Asia, some buyers recently issued tenders for

longer-term cargoes, according to Charles Costerousse, senior

LNG analyst at data analytics firm Kpler.

"The Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China (JKTC) region and India

have in total received 14.06 million metric tons (mt) of LNG so

far for May this year, compared to 17.07 mt for May last year,"

he said.

In Europe, gas market gains have tightened discounts to the

Asian market substantially, amid maintenance outages in Norway

and concerns over Russian pipeline supply after Austria's OMV

said that gas supplies from Russia's Gazprom

could be suspended in connection with a foreign court ruling.

"The market has to factor in the possibility of heightened

geopolitical risks. In particular, the possibility of disruption

to either Russian pipeline or LNG exports, or both. Austria's

OMV said it could lose pipe supply from Russia. Europe,

meanwhile, is considering restrictions on Russian LNG," ICIS'

Froley said.

S&P Global Commodity Insights assessed its daily North West

Europe LNG Marker (NWM) price benchmark for cargoes delivered in

June on an ex-ship (DES) basis at $11.118/mmBtu on May 23, a

$0.20/mmBtu discount to the July gas price at the Dutch TTF hub.

Argus assessed the July delivery price at $11.150/mmBtu,

while Spark Commodities assessed the June delivery price at

$11.003/mmBtu.

In the United States, Argus' Good said Freeport LNG

production has held strong in recent days at levels that would

suggest all three trains are operating near to capacity.

Production at other U.S. terminals has also been largely steady.

LNG freight rates in the Atlantic saw the highest

week-on-week increase this year and hit the highest level since

the end of March at $48,250/day on Friday. The Pacific rates

fell to $44,500/day, said Spark Commodities analyst Qasim

Afghan.