TOKYO: Liquefied natural gas (LNG) spot prices for Japanese buyers fell in November after two straight months of rises, the government said on Tuesday, as faltering demand in Asia combined with rising supply from countries including Australia and Russia.
Asian LNG buyers face the prospect of lower import costs over winter for the first time since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 due to rising supplies.
Spot LNG contracted in November for delivery to Japan averaged $14.40 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu), down from $15.30 a month earlier, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said. Cargoes arriving last month averaged $14.30 per mmBtu, compared with $12.40 in October.
Asian spot LNG prices were around $9.50 per mmBtu last week, having declined from $12.90 per mmBtu a month ago, bucking a seasonal rise in prices at this time of the year.
Japan, which takes about a third of the world's LNG imports, shipped in a record 87.73 million tonnes in the year through March. The average spot price is based on about 10 percent of the nation's purchases of the super-chilled fuel.
Japan started releasing spot LNG prices in April to add transparency to the market amid concern about rising fuel costs in the wake of the shutdown of nuclear plants after the Fukushima crisis.
The METI survey looks at samples of fixed prices for LNG sold to power companies and utilities among others, and excludes spot deals linked to benchmark prices such as the US natural gas Henry Hub index.
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