Japan continues to break LNG import records

Japan, the world’s biggest buyer of liquefied natural gas, imported record 89.07 million tonnes of LNG in the fiscal year ended March 31, a rise of 1,5 pct as compared to the same period a year before.

The country also paid record 7.78 trillion yen (US$65 billion) for imports of the chilled gas in 2014/15, preliminary data from the Ministry of Finance reveals.

Japan shut down its nuclear industry in March of 2011 after a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit the country. Since then, its LNG imports have been rising steadily year on year.

The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan recently said that nuclear power plants in Japan remained shut down in FY2014 resulting in no electricity production at all, for the first time since 1966.

Japan’s ten independent regional electric power companies bought 59 million mt and consumed 56.6 million mt of the chilled gas in FY2014.

Total energy generated and purchased by the 10 companies in FY2014 declined by 3.1 percent from a year earlier to 893.83 billion kWh.

LNG World News Staff; Image: Tepco