Japanese LNG importer JERA prepares for tightest summer season in several years in power market
JERA Co. Inc., the Japanese LNG buyer of 35 million tonnes per annum of volumes and with control of a fleet of 20 LNG carriers, has drawn up measures to address supply and demand issues in Japan through the Northern Hemisphere summer season.
Japanese monthly LNG imports jump amid stocks rebuild while thermal coal shipments also surge
Japan’s liquefied natural gas imports jumped by 7.3 percent last month, backed by a more than doubling of US supplies, underpinned by cargoes from Australia and the spot market, while thermal coal shipments surge by almost 11 percent.
China is scene of LNG supply battle with Australia and Qatar losing some LNG share to US and Russia
China may be trailing Japan in LNG imports but it remained the world’s largest natural gas importer by far when pipeline volumes are counted, well ahead of the world No. 2 gas importer Germany and No. 3 Japan as LNG suppliers also intensified their battle for Chinese LNG market share.
Japanese spot LNG prices jump by $2.20 per MMBtu as sector revives on winter season demand
Japanese spot LNG prices for contracted and delivered cargoes increased in December jumped by. $2.20 per million British thermal amid growing demand for cargoes in North Asia.
Australian export plants shipped over 100 cargoes last month as South Korean deliveries doubled
Australian liquefied natural gas export plants shipped 6.9 million tonnes of cargoes in November, higher than the previous month but slightly down on the 7.1MT dispatched in November 2019, though still keeping the nation as the World No. 1 LNG exporter.
According to the consultants EnergyQuest, a total of 101 cargoes left Australian liquefaction plants on the West and East Coasts, up on October’s 98 cargoes.
“Deliveries to major North Asian markets were higher in November compared with November 2019,” said the report.
“Australian projects delivered a total of 91 cargoes to China, Japan and Korea in November, up from 83 cargoes a year earlier,” it added.
Australian projects delivered 38 cargoes to China in November, after delivering 31 in October and 38 in November 2019.
Thirty-nine deliveries were made to Japan in November, more than the 37 delivered in October and up on 38 delivered in November 2019.
Australia delivered 14 cargoes to South Korea in November, double the deliveries in the same month a year ago when seven cargoes were delivered.
“Average LNG plant capacity utilisation was 95.7 percent in November up from 90.0 percent in October,” said EnergyQuest.
“Australia will export around 78MT for 2020, slightly higher than the 77.5MT exported in 2019, and more than Qatar nameplate capacity,” the report added.
East Coast coal-seam-gas-to-LNG projects, Queensland Curtis LNG, Australia-Pacific LNG and Gladstone LNG, again shipped a record amount, reaching 2.126MT (32 cargoes) in November, eclipsing the record set in October of 2.050MT.
“The East Coast projects operated at 102 percent of nameplate capacity during November. This is the first time in the history of the East Coast production they have exceeded nameplate capacity,” stated the report.
LNG spot cargo prices in Asia were continuing to increase with cargoes for January delivery reported at US$5.80 to US$9.20 per million British thermal units (A$12.00 per gigajoule).
“There were six November spot cargoes reported from the East Coast, three from APLNG and three from GLNG, and 10 spot cargoes from the West Coast (16 percent of total shipments),” said EnergyQuest.
“This was significantly higher than Queensland short-term domestic gas prices in November which averaged A$5.88 per gigajoule at the Wallumbilla Hub and A$6.26 per gigajoule in the Brisbane market,” said the report.
Japanese LNG imports rebound in June but are well down for first half apart from US shipments
Japanese liquefied natural gas imports rebounded from 2020 declines as they rose last month, though the overall trend was down as half-year imports dropped 5.7 percent, with only US shipments increasing in the first six months.
Japanese LNG imports decline again as cargoes from Middle East drop and thermal coal increases
Japanese liquefied natural gas imports declined again last month while prices were 13.5 percent lower than a year ago as Australian cargoes increased and Middle East shipments fell.
Japanese annual LNG imports drop from most areas amid December thermal coal surge
The Japanese Finance Ministry has provided official confirmation that liquefied natural gas imports dropped in 2019 with only Australian and US and spot cargo numbers improving, while in December LNG shipments declined as thermal coal imports surged.
Japanese LNG imports fall even at lower prices as US shipments overtake Russia for first time
Japanese liquefied natural gas imports declined last month at the expense of thermal coal imports even as LNG cost the nation 20 percent less than a year ago and US shipments to Japan overtook those from Russia for the first time.
Japanese LNG shipments rebound after drops as costs fall and Australian volumes increase
Japanese liquefied natural gas imports rebounded last month from an almost 20 percent drop the previous month to rise by 2.6 percent as Australian and spot volumes accounted for almost half of the nation’s supplies and cargo costs declined 11.70 percent year-on-year.
