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The country’s LNG imports increased to 6.64 million tonnes last month.
LNG imports dropped slightly compared to 6.74 million tonnes of LNG in December, which was up by 5.7 percent year-on-year.
The world’s second-largest LNG importer took 65.89 million tonnes of LNG last year, down 0.4 percent year-on-year.
Japan’s coal imports for power generation increased in January compared to the last year.
The data shows that coal imports were up by 4.5 percent to 10.4 million tonnes, and Japan paid about $1.6 billion for these imports, a drop of 0.7 percent compared to last year.
LNG import bill climbs
The January LNG import bill, which was about $4.39 billion, rose by 7.1 percent compared to the same month last year.
JOGMEC said in a report last week that the average price of spot LNG cargoes for delivery to Japan contracted in January and scheduled to be delivered from the month onward (contract-based price) was $13.8/MMBtu.
Also, the average price of spot LNG cargoes that were delivered in Japan within the month of January regardless of the month when the contracts were made (arrival-based price) was 14.2/MMBtu.
JOGMEC previously said that the arrival-based price was at $14.1/MMBtu in December, while the contract-based was not disclosed.
LNG inventories
METI previously announced that Japan’s LNG inventories for power generation stood at 1.87 million tonnes as of January 5, down from 2.24 million tonnes the previous week.
According to METI, inventories stood at 2.11 million tonnes on January 12, 2.31 million tonnes on January 19, 2.15 million tonnes on January 26, 2.42 million tonnes on February 2, 2.15 million tonnes on February 9, and 2.01 million tonnes on February 16.
Deliveries to Japan
As per LNG shipments going to Japan in January, deliveries from Asia increased by 26.7 percent to 2.03 million tonnes, the ministry’s data shows.
Middle East LNG shipments decreased by 11.1 percent to 647,000 tonnes in January.
Moreover, shipments from Russia decreased by 12.4 percent to 573,000 tonnes, while US deliveries decreased by 24.5 percent to 454,000 tonnes in January.