Japan's LNG imports slipped 2.6% year on year to 7.9 million mt in March with imports from Papua New Guinea dropping, Ministry of Finance data released Thursday showed.
PNG LNG had shut its plant after a massive earthquake hit the region on February 26. Japan's imports from PNG fell 65.7% from a year ago to 145,580 mt, or about two cargoes, in March.
Japan imported 2.5 million mt from Australia in March, up 17.3% year on year and also accounting for 31% of Japan's overall imports.
Imports from second-largest supplier Malaysia reached 1.3 million mt, down 17.1% from a year ago, and volumes from Qatar, which came in third, rose 12.1% year on year to 1.1 million mt.
Japan also received a cargo from Egypt last month. The Flex Enterprise delivered a cargo from Idku, Egypt to the Oita terminal operated by Kyushu Electric on March 12, according to S&P Global Platts trade flow software cFlow.
The US also sent a couple of cargoes to Japan with the Kita LNG delivering a Sabine Pass cargo to the Futtsu terminal on March 23 and the Creole Spirit delivering another Sabine Pass cargo to the Himeji terminal on March 29, cFlow showed.
The Japan Customs Cleared crude oil price was $66.746/b in March, surging 18.9% from a year earlier but edging down 2.2% from the previous month.
Some of Japan's long-term LNG contracts are linked to the JCC crude price, but with a lag of a few months, so fluctuations in oil prices typically take some time to be reflected in LNG prices.
