Japan's LNG stocks rise 8.7% on week to 2.37 mil mt: METI

Japan's LNG stocks held by major power utilities rose 8.7% to 2.37 million mt Dec. 12 from 2.18 million mt the week before, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Dec. 15.

METI's LNG stock data release is part of its ongoing efforts to promptly detect any significant drop in the country's LNG inventories for power generation this winter in response to the lessons of last winter.

The Dec. 12 LNG stocks were well above 1.42 million mt held at the end of December last year, as well as the four-year average of 1.71 million mt at the end of that month, according to METI data.

The LNG inventories has increased from 2.23 million mt Nov. 28, which compared with 1.66 million at end November 2020 and the four-year average of 1.89 million mt at the end of that month, according to METI data.

Japan's power supply-demand balance tightened in January when the country experienced a surge in power demand that forced local power utilities to restrict gas-fired power generation due to low LNG stocks.

This was exacerbated by glitches at coal-fired power plants, low hydropower generation due to droughts, fluctuations in solar power output due to weather conditions, reduced oil-fired power generation capacity, and low nuclear power output.