The volume of liquefied natural gas (LNG) handled by Japanese companies rose 1% year-on-year to 103.13 million metric tons in the fiscal 2023/24 year as external trade increased, the state-owned Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) said.
Japan is the world's second-biggest importer of the super-chilled fuel, after China.
Resource-poor Japan aims to keep to an annual LNG handling volume, including imports and trade, of around 100 million tons in the 2030/31 year to improve energy security and maintain Japan's influence in the international LNG market.
Japanese LNG imports fell 8% to 64.89 million tons in the fiscal year ended March 31. Japan has been reducing LNG imports in recent years due to a switch to renewable energy, as well as nuclear reactor restarts.
But the volume of "external trade," or the LNG sold to foreign companies, rose 21% to 38.25 million tons, according to a survey conducted by JOGMEC of 30 Japanese companies engaged in the purchase and trade of LNG, such as electric power and gas utilities, trading houses, oil refiners and steelmakers.
In external trade, both the off-take volume from LNG projects and the supply obtained through term contracts and spot trades expanded, the survey said on Monday.
According to another survey done by JOGMEC of 22 Japanese LNG buyers, the ratio of their LNG contract volume that comes with destination restrictions to total contract volume fell to 39% in 23/24 from 42% a year earlier, and is expected to drop further to 34% in 30/31.
Buyers in Japan have long complained about the so-called destination clauses restricting resale and have been negotiating with global LNG suppliers to remove the clause from existing contracts or to sign new contracts without the destination clauses to gain more leeway to resell spare cargoes.
