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State-owned Japex said in its recent results report that LNG sales volumes reached 306,796 tons during the nine-month period, while net sales reached about $199.6 million.
This compares to 99,611 t and $67.9 million in the same period in the year before.
Japex expects its LNG sales to reach 421,000 t for the fiscal year ending March 2025, a rise from 275,000 t in the previous fiscal year.
However, the company said it expects LNG sales volumes to decrease in the next fiscal year, and “they are likely to settle between the 421,000 tons forecast for this fiscal year and the 275,000 tons achieved in the previous fiscal year.”
Japex operates two LNG import terminals in Japan, the Soma LNG terminal and the Yufutsu LNG terminal.
Last year, it also agreed to buy a part of Jera’s stake in US LNG terminal operator Freeport LNG, and it is studying the Northern Vietnam LNG terminal project.
Freeport LNG has three trains with a capacity of about 15 mtpa, with plans to add a fourth train.
US LNG procurement
During the earnings call with investors and analysts last week, Japex management also answered a question about whether the Trump administration would have an impact on LNG procurement in the US.
“We do not think that there will be any significant impact in the short term. The Trump administration has become more proactive on LNG exports than the Biden administration,” the company said.
“Therefore, we believe that there is less concern about the expansion of the fourth train of the Freeport LNG project, in which we are participating. Meanwhile, it is unlikely that the current LNG procurement contracts will be immediately switched to US-produced LNG in terms of an LNG procurement source,” it said.
In addition, it is not clear at this stage whether LNG shipments from the US will actually increase, so Japex does not expect this to have a significant implication on its LNG procurement.
“In the medium to long term, if LNG production from the US increases steadily, there is a sense of expectation from the procurement side that prices will become relatively less expensive or stabilize. Nevertheless, there are few concrete factors that can be mentioned at this point,” Japex said.