Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | Ramadan 8, 1445 H
scattered clouds
weather
OMAN
27°C / 27°C
EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Japanese LNG prices have peaked

924131
924131
minus
plus

The average price of spot LNG imports to Japan contracted in January 2017 was $8.40/m Btu, up from $8/m Btu in December 2016, the ministry of economy, trade and industry (Meti) said on February 9, their highest level for two years. But Japan’s IEEJ says that prices have now peaked.


Meti said the average price of spot cargoes arriving in January 2017 (and therefore priced in previous months) was $7.30/m Btu, compared with $6.80/m Btu for the previous month’s arrivals. All its prices are on a delivered ex ship (DES) basis, and exclude cargoes indexed to Henry Hub or JKM.


Spot LNG prices for delivery to North Asia rose to two-year highs in late December of $9.50/m Btu, their highest since early 2015, said the Institute for Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ) in a briefing paper on February 6. However by last month, IEEJ added that spot prices were trending downward as some buyers sought to offload cargoes and European hub prices softened.


Japanese LNG import volumes and prices rocketed in record levels in 2013-14 to provide fuel for power generation, following closure of all the country’s reactors in March 2011. Of Japan’s 42 reactors, only two (Sendai-1 and Ikata-3) are commercially generating with a third, Sendai-2, expected to come out of scheduled maintenance later this month.


IEEJ said in December that 20 existing reactors and one new reactor were currently undergoing conformity testing, and expressed the hope that the nuclear regulator’s assessment programme will be “even more streamlined... in  2017.”


[Mark Smedley – Natural Gas World]


SHARE ARTICLE
arrow up
home icon