Japan February LNG imports hit another record

Japan imported 7.73m tonnes of LNG in February, up 2.9% from the year before and a record high for the month, according to Ministry of Finance data released on 18 March.

The increase, which follows another record import level in January, is part of a recent resurgence in Japan’s gas imports – and a stark contrast with the steady drop in gas sales in nearby South Korea (see separate story). The firmer trend this year is running against forecasts from the government and many analysts who have called for Japan’s overall LNG demand to fall in 2015.

In February, the biggest year-on-year increase came from the Middle East, which sent 2.39m tonnes of LNG to Japan. That was up 15% from the year before and the second-highest February volumes from the region in the past five years.

Another significant increase came from Russia with deliveries into Japan hitting an all-time high for February, rising 16% to reach nearly 800,000 tonnes.

The increases more than offset a 21% drop in imports from Southeast Asia, which fell to 1.98m tonnes.

The overall cost of LNG imports in February was yen 633.7bn ($5.3bn), down 0.7% year on year.

Japan’s LNG imports reached a record high in 2014 despite a slowdown midway through the year. The country became the world’s largest importer of LNG after the March 2011 meltdown at Tokyo Electric’s (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi power plant caused it to shut down its nuclear reactor fleet for maintenance checks and look elsewhere for fuel.

The increase in imports in February came amid gains in the country’s overall LNG consumption.

Japan’s 10 largest electricity providers burned 4.8m tonnes of LNG in February, a gain of about 1% year on year, according to the Federation of Electric Power Companies (FEPC).

Tokyo Gas, the largest gas utility in the country, said its February gas sales were 3.5% higher than the year before. The increase came from the industrial sector, which bought 600 million cubic metres of gas, or 13.2% more gas than the year before, the company said in a release. Ben Lefebvre