Japan’s February LNG imports slip

Japanese imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) slipped for the second month of the year.

According to the provisional data released by Japan’s Ministry of Finance, total imports of liquefied natural gas in February reached 6.64 million tons, 9.6 percent down on 7.35 million tons imported in February 2019.

Total imports have been valued at 351.4 billion Japanese yen ($3.21 billion), a 24 percent drop on year.

The data shows that imports of liquefied natural gas from the United States jumped 41.2 percent to 473,000 tons. Imports from Asian sources such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Brunei slipped 18.7 percent, reaching 1.66 million tons.

Liquefied natural gas imports from the Middle Eastern sources slipped 15.1 percent to 1.31 million tons in February 2020, with imports of LNG from Russia edging down 1.1 percent to 597,000 tons.

The country’s coal imports for power generation stood at 9.14 million tonnes, dropping 9.6 percent from the corresponding month in 2019.