Japan’s Liquefied Natural Gas, Crude Imports Gained in May

Japan’s liquefied natural gas imports rose 16.8 percent in May from a year earlier while crude purchases advanced 7.1 percent, the finance ministry said.

LNG shipments from overseas climbed to 7.06 million metric tons, the ministry said in a preliminary report today. Imports of crude were 16.6 million kiloliters, or 3.37 million barrels a day, the data showed.

Utilities increased thermal power output by 34 percent in May to compensate for a drop in nuclear generation, according to data released June 13 by the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan. The average utilization rate for atomic plants was 2 percent in the month, down from 41 percent a year earlier.

The following table shows Japan’s imports of crude, oil products, gas and coal for May:

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                                         Year-on-Year Change
Crude oil           16.595                          7.1%
Gasoline, Naphtha    2.397                         12.8%
LNG               　 7.056                         16.8%
LPG                　1.167                         13.0%
Coal              　15.706                         19.9%
 (Thermal Coal)    　9.085                         20.8%
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Note: Crude oil and gasoline are in millions of kiloliters. LNG, liquefied petroleum gas and coal are in millions of tons.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jacob Adelman in Tokyo at jadelman1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net