Japan's April LNG Spot Price at 2-Month Low

Average liquefied natural gas (LNG) spot prices for buyers in Japan fell to a two-month low in April, trade ministry data showed on Thursday, in another sign of slack global demand.

Spot LNG contracted in April for delivery to Japan averaged $7.60 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), down from $8 a month earlier, less than half the level a year ago, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said. Spot cargoes booked earlier and arriving in April averaged $7.90 per mmBtu, up from $7.60 in March. Asian benchmark spot LNG <LNG-AS> stood at $7.40 per mmBtu last week, little changed from a month ago, as demand from end users remained subdued. Tokyo started surveying spot LNG prices in March 2014 to add transparency to the market amid concerns about rising fuel costs in the wake of the shutdown of nuclear plants after the Fukushima crisis.

The average spot price is based on around 10 percent of the nation's purchases of the super-chilled fuel. The trade ministry 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 U.S. natural gas Henry Hub index. For the monthly price report from METI, click (http://www.meti.go.jp/english/statistics/sho/slng/). The following table lists monthly prices for LNG per million British thermal units for spot cargoes contracted during the month and those that arrived during the month.

Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori