LONDON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Asian spot liquefied natural

gas (LNG) rose slightly this week tracking European gas markets,

while warm weather forecasts, strong storage inventories and

weak economic data in China helped keep demand muted.

The average LNG price for December delivery into northeast

Asia rose slightly to $13.60 per million British

thermal units (mmBtu) from $13.40/mmBtu last week, industry

sources estimated.

The price for January delivery was estimated at $14/mmBtu.

"Asian LNG front-month prices remained largely stable...due

to a rise in European TTF prices. This stability reflects weak

fundamentals, with robust supply and reduced demand driven by

unseasonably warm weather," said Go Katayama, LNG and natural

gas analyst at Kpler.

"Although colder temperatures are forecasted for Northeast

Asia, these are expected to remain brief. Some spot demand may

arise as winter progresses, but ample spot supply should keep

prices balanced for the week ahead," Katayama added.

In Japan and South Korea, temperatures will gradually drop

towards normal levels in the coming week, however, heating

demand across Asia remains lower than average for the time of

year, said Klaas Dozeman, market analyst at Brainchild Commodity

Intelligence.

Economic numbers have been pressuring industrial demand,

most notably the disappointing inflation numbers from China

accompanied by lower producer prices, he said.

Asian prices were supported by European gas prices which

rose to a near one-year high amid ongoing concerns over Russian

supply and as cold weather sapped gas stocks.

Austrian energy group OMV said an award of more than $243

million in connection with irregular German gas supplies from

Gazprom could impact its Gazprom supply deal.

Extremely low wind output, particularly in Germany,

coincided with temperature declines, resulting in high gas

consumption for power and heating purposes, leading to

significant net withdrawals from underground gas facilities

across the continent, Kpler's Katayama said.

European gas storage sites were last 92.1% full, down from

95.2% seen at the start of the month, data from Gas

Infrastructure Europe showed.

S&P Global Commodity Insights assessed its daily North West

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

December on an ex-ship (DES) basis at $14.058/mmBtu on Nov. 14,

a $0.25/mmBtu discount to the December gas price at the Dutch

TTF hub, the highest prices seen in nearly a year.

Argus assessed the price at $13.535/mmBtu, while Spark

Commodities assessed it at $14.107/mmBtu.

On the back of this rally, the U.S. arbitrage, diverting a

physical cargo from one market to another, to north-east Asia

for December fell by $0.65 and is currently pricing in at

$0.88/mmBtu, signalling that prompt month U.S. cargos are

incentivised to voyage to Northwest Europe for an eighth week

straight, said Spark Commodities analyst Qasim Afghan.

In LNG freight, Atlantic rates have risen to $26,000/day on

Friday, while Pacific rates continued to decline for the 14th

straight week to $26,000/day, he added.