Japan's August LNG imports rose 2.4% from July to 7.32 million mt, as the country entered its peak summer demand season during the month, customs data released Thursday by the Ministry of Finance showed.
This extended the month-on-month gains in LNG imports seen in July, when import volumes were recorded at 7.15 million mt, up 7.6% from June.
Summer in Japan typically spans over July-September, increasing LNG consumption for power generation due to greater air-conditioning requirements during the hot weather. This year has seen greater demand for LNG due to nuclear outages, with none of the nuclear reactors operational in early May.
The next month however, Kansai Electric restarted the No. 3 and No. 4 nuclear reactors at its Ooi nuclear plant on July 1 and July 18, respectively, which accounted for 2.32 GW of the country's 46.15 GW of nuclear capacity spread over 50 reactors.
Temperatures in Tokyo in August were at an average 29.1 degrees Celsius, according to data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, higher than the 20-year average over 1992-2011 at 27.4 degrees Celsius.
Japan received a 53,150-mt LNG cargo from Trinidad & Tobago at an average cost of $848.27/mt ($16.31/MMBtu), which could have been secured from the spot market as the traded price was near Platts' assessment of the August LNG Japan Korea Marker at $16.20/MMBtu on June 20, market sources said.
The US shipped a 43,765-mt spot cargo to Japan in August, with the average cost at $783.24/MMBtu ($15.06/MMBtu), close to the June 29 Platts assessments of August JKM at $14.95/MMBtu.
This US shipment was loaded on the LNG Gemini at ConocoPhillips' Kenai LNG plant in Alaska on August 8. The tanker arrived at Kansai Electric's Himeiji LNG regasification terminal in Japan on August 27, Platts shipping software cTrack showed.
Spain, meanwhile, sold a 51,074-mt LNG cargo into Japan in August, which was priced at an average $939.78/mt ($18.07/MMBtu), according to the customs data, but it could not be determined if the cargo was sourced from the spot market.
Australia continued to be the largest LNG supplier to Japan for the second consecutive month, sending 1.61 million of LNG in August, up 6.9% month on month and 13.8% year on year.
This was largely due to additional volumes made available from the Australian North West Shelf project and the new Pluto LNG project. Better-than-expected output was seen from the Pluto LNG project, which was commissioned in March, Platts reported previously.
Qatar took the second place, delivering 1.15 million of LNG in August to Japan, down 20.7% from July and 1.2% from August 2011.
In August, Japan's LNG import price averaged $925.04/mt ($17.79/MMBtu), down 1.1% from July, but up 8.7% from the same month last year.
The most expensive imports in August were from Malaysia, with an average price of $988.82/mt ($19.02/MMBtu), while the cheapest shipments were from Oman, at an average price of $732.73/mt ($14.09/MMBtu).
The Japan Customs Cleared crude oil price in August was $102.996/barrel, up a marginal 0.8% from a month ago, but down 10.1% year on year.
Japan's term LNG contracts tend to be linked to the JCC crude price, but with a lag of a few months, so fluctuations in oil prices typically take some time to feed through to LNG prices.
