Mixed and outdated natural gas price convergence results have caused confusion among analysts and strongly call for a comprehensive revision of the topic. The issue has been exacerbated with the recent rampant increase in LNG trade and the emergence of new gas spot trading hubs. Filling the gap, this study conducts growth convergence testing and clustering analysis on a panel comprised of four established gas price benchmarks and two emerging ones that expand up to the pre-Covid-19 period. The most significant finding is that no gas price convergence can be found outside Europe. This is despite the existence of episodes of partial convergence that are identified in the literature, and replicated and explained here. Importantly, the results strongly reject the postulate that increased LNG flows serve as a price-levelling arbitrage mechanism. Overall, these findings inform analysts, researchers and policymakers that they should be wary about taking convergence claims for granted.

混合且过时的天然气价格趋同结果引起了分析师的困惑，并强烈呼吁对该主题进行全面修改。随着近期液化天然气贸易的激增和新天然气现货交易中心的出现，这一问题变得更加严重。为了填补这一空白，本研究对一个小组进行了增长收敛测试和聚类分析，该小组由四个既定的天然气价格基准和两个扩展到 Covid-19 之前的新兴价格基准组成。最重要的发现是，在欧洲以外地区找不到天然气价格趋同的情况。尽管存在文献中确定的部分趋同事件，并在此进行复制和解释，但情况仍然如此。重要的是，结果强烈否定了增加液化天然气流量可作为价格平衡套利机制的假设。总体而言，这些发现告诉分析师、研究人员和政策制定者，他们应该警惕将趋同主张视为理所当然。