Nigeria’s LNG Sale to Japan Falls by 49%

• Nigeria’s LNG Sale to Japan Falls by 49%

Nigeria’s sale of Liquefied Natural Gas to Japan plunged last month, as the Asian country’s total LNG imports slipped by 2.3 per cent year on year to 6.1 million metric tonnes, data released by the Ministry of Finance showed on Wednesday.

Nigeria sent only one cargo in October, down 49 per cent year on year, at a price of $292.98/MT, or $5.634/MMBtu, according to Platts.

The Maran Gas Amphipolis delivered a Nigeria cargo into Futtsu LNG terminal on October 9, cFlow showed.

Australia continued to be the largest supplier, shipping 1.75 million metric tonnes in October, down by 6.3 per cent.

Malaysia’s volume rose by 20 per cent from a year earlier to around 1.1 million metric tonnes, making it the second largest supplier, while imports from Qatar fell by 34 per cent year on year to 778,489 metric tonnes.

Japan received a 66,311-mt cargo from Peru last month. The Maran Gas Efessos delivered a Peruvian cargo to Joetsu LNG receiving terminal on October 24, according to S&P Global Platts ship-tracking software cFlow.

The Japan Customs-cleared crude oil price was $54.765 per barrel in October, rising by 21.2 per cent from a year earlier and up by 6.3 per cent from the previous month.

Some of the 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 the LNG prices.