PERTH: Asian spot LNG prices rose this week in anticipation that warmer weather in top consumer Japan will boost the country's demand for the fuel.
Japan will see mostly hotter-than-average weather from July to September, its official forecaster said on Tuesday, boosting power consumption as cooling demand goes up.
Asian LNG prices were pegged in the low-$15 per mmBtu level, up slightly from last week's high $14 per mmBtu level.
Spot prices were seen increasing even though Japan's LNG imports for May fell nearly 10 percent, the first fall in two months despite higher demand for gas-fired power due to the country's reduced nuclear capacity.
The shutdown of the vast majority of Japan's nuclear reactors after the 2011 tsunami and Fukushima nuclear crisis has sharply increased the country's LNG demand.
Japan's nuclear utilities have promised restarts of idled plants as soon as next month after costly safety upgrades, but those plans look optimistic given that they are yet to secure either regulatory or local approval.
Demand from South Korea, the world's second-largest importer of LNG, is also expected to pick up after it had to take some nuclear power capacity offline after the discovery that replacement cables were supplied with fake certificates.
Customs data earlier this month showed South Korea's LNG imports jumping over 30 percent.
On the supply side, Nigeria's LNG exports have been blocked for a sixth day by the maritime security agency due to a dispute over shipping levies.
Nigeria's LNG plant has been plagued with shutdowns in recent months and only lifted a force majeure on exports in mid-June after a pipeline leak shut operations.
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