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LNG Journal
The Japanese government said the average price of spot liquefied natural gas cargoes imported into Japan last month was $7.50 per million British thermal units compared with $15.10 per MMBtu in the year-ago period, a fall of $7.60 per MMBtu or 49.6 percent.
For spot cargoes contracted in December 2015, but not yet delivered, the price was $7.40 MMBtu compared with $11.60 per MMBtu in the same month a year ago.
The spot prices were unchanged from those given for November 2015.
By February 2016, a full year of spot cargo price drops will have been reached with only single-digit comparisons.
Japanese overall LNG imports for November declined 2.7 percent and average oil-linked, long-term contract prices fell below $9 per million British thermal units for the first time since LNG became a global commodity.
Even at the current low prices, the nation's utilities also opted for other fuels for power generation that were even less expensive than LNG such as coal.
Japan's overall November LNG imports amounted to 6.69 million tonnes compared with 6.87MT in the same month a year ago, though were still more than the 6.05MT imported in October 2015, according to the figures from the Ministry of Finance.
This means the annual Japanese import figure is on track to be around 85MT for 2015, which would be 3.8MT less than in 2014 at a time of very low LNG prices and a demand slowdown in Asia.
The LNG spot statistics are published by Japan's Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Industry and come from the nation's utilities, the main users of the fuel.
Trading companies are excluded from the statistics. The next spot prices for December are due for release on February 9, 2016, provided a minimum of two trades are reported.
Japanese LNG spot prices and those in Asia in general have slumped along with oil since hitting $20 per million British thermal units in February 2014.
The Tokyo government published spot prices for the first time for delivered and free-on-board (FOB) cargoes in March 2014 when there was growing concern from the world's largest LNG user that it was paying too much for its cargoes on a spot basis.
Average spot prices since March 2014
Year Month Contract price Arrival price
2015 Dec $7.40 $7.50
2015 Nov $7.40 $7.50
2015 Oct $7.60 $7.90
2015 Sept $7.40 $7.70
2015 Aug $8.10 $7.70
2015 July $7.90 void
2015 June $7.60 $7.60
2015 May void void
2015 April $7.60 $7.90
2015 Mar $8.00 $7.60
2015 Feb $7.60 $10.70
2015 Jan $10.20 $13.90
2014 Dec $11.60 $15.10
2014 Nov $14.40 $14.30
2014 Oct $15.30 $12.40
2014 Sept $13.20 $11.30
2014 Aug $11.40 $12.50
2014 July $11.80 $13.80
2014 June $13.80 $15.00
2014 May $14.80 $16.30
2014 April $16.00 $18.30
2014 March $18.30 void
Where void is inserted the figures were not published in the absence of a minimum of two trades.
