TOKYO: Japan’s average import price for liquefied natural gas (LNG) increased in July for the first time in eight months, with a rise in oil prices earlier this year starting to impact prices for the fuel, trade data showed on Wednesday.
The average price for LNG imports climbed to $8.91 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) in July, according to preliminary data from the Ministry of Finance. The July price was up from $8.65/mmBtu in June, which was the lowest since September 2009.
Japan imported 6.95 million tonnes of LNG last month, down 11.3 per cent from a year earlier, as utilities continued a switch to coal to cut costs and a slowing economy hit demand for electricity.
The world’s third-biggest economy has been importing record amounts of LNG and coal as a substitute for the shutdown of reactors in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster more than four years ago.
As oil prices slumped from summer last year, the price of LNG imported to Japan fell, as the country mostly buys the fuel on long-term contracts linked to the price of crude.
LNG prices are likely to drop again later this year as oil has resumed its decline in recent months and with the restart of a first reactor last week demand for the fuel may continue falling.
Imports of thermal coal for power generation increased by 12.4 per cent in July to 10.9 million tonnes, the second-highest figure on record and slightly below January’s high of 11.2 million tonnes.
Japan’s crude cocktail price, which is used for pricing LNG, was $63.87 per barrel in July, down from $63.94 in June and $111.62 in July 2014.
Imports of crude oil to the world’s fourth-biggest crude buyer rose 9 per cent in July to 3.62 million barrels per day (17.86 million kilolitres), the data showed.
The following table is a preliminary breakdown of Japan’s energy imports for July, with volumes of crude, oil products and gasoline/naphtha in millions of kilolitres, LNG, LPG and coal in million of tonnes and values in million yen.
