Page 12 - GLNG Week 38

GLNG ASIA GLNG

Japan’s LNG imports shrink 4.1% in August

PERFORMANCE WHILE Japan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) saying in late August.
imports shrank by 4.1% year on year in August Japanese demand for LNG has been slowly
to 5.84mn tonnes, cheaper supplies of the fuel tapering off in the wake of the country’s restart
prevented a steeper decline. The country paid of nuclear power generation, with nine reac-
JPY190.9bn ($1.83bn) for its LNG deliveries last tors having been reactivated so far. The Japan
month, which was 44% less than in August 2019. Atomic Energy Commission has called for more
August volumes were also down 3.3% to be brought back online in order to reduce the
from the 6.04mn tonnes imported in July. country’s carbon emissions and stabilise power
Deliveries in the first eight months of the year supplies. The situation, coupled with tighter
amounted to 48.2mn tonnes, around JPY2.3 maritime emission rules, has encouraged Japa-
trillion ($22.01bn). While industrial gas demand nese shipping companies to speed up develop-
remains subdued in the wake of the coronavi- ment of LNG bunker options.
rus (COVID-19) pandemic, demand from the Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K-Line) named
power sector picked up as the economics of LNG Japan’s first LNG bunkering vessel last week
over coal-fired generation improved. Japanese at Kawasaki Heavy Industries’ (KHI) Sakaide
thermal coal shipments contracted by 12% y/y Works. Central LNG Marine Fuel Japan will use
in August to 7.9mn tonnes, according to provi- the vessel, christened Kaguya on September 16,
sional Finance Ministry data. The uptick in last to begin supplying LNG to ships in the Chubu
month’s power demand, owing to a summer heat region before the end of the year, K-Line said
wave, is not expected to translate into lasting sup- on September 18. Kaguya’s first supply oper-
port for LNG purchases, however. ations will involve the NYK-operated pure car
Japanese power and gas utilities’ high com- and truck carrier (PCTC) vessel Sakura Leader,
mitment to long-term volumes is likely to stifle which is the first large PCTC to be fuelled by
buyer interest for additional volumes even if LNG. The bunkering vessel will also supply a
winter temperatures are colder than expected, new car carrier that K-Line is set to deliver before
Platts quoted unnamed market sources as the end of March 2021.™

EUROPE

EU Parliament backs applying

emissions trading to shipping

ENERGY THE European Parliament has backed the inclu- fuels, forcing shipowners to invest heavily in ves-
TRANSITION sion of pollution from ships in the EU emissions sel upgrades and refiners in developing cleaner
trading system (ETS), a move that would burden fuels.
the industry with significantly higher operating The Parliament has gone further, after MEPs
costs. argued that IMO rules had not encouraged the
From 2022, ships with a gross tonnage of sector to adequately reduce emissions. Applying
more than 5,000 will have to pay for carbon per- the ETS to shipping is therefore needed. Greens
mits to cover their emissions when they make lawmaker Jutta Paulus of Germany said the vote
voyages within Europe or travel to and from an was “a strong signal in line with the European
EU port, under the new proposals. Members of Green Deal and the climate emergency.”
the European Parliament (MEPs) on September “Monitoring and reported CO2 emissions
16 voted 520 to 94 in favour of adding shipping is important, but statistics alone do not save a
to the ETS, while 77 lawmakers abstained. single gram of greenhouse gas,” she said. “That’s
The European Commission earlier this year why we are going further than the Commission
proposed aligning EU emissions rules with proposal and demanding tougher measures to
those of the International Maritime Organisa- reduce emissions from maritime shipping.”
tion (IMO). Stricter IMO rules came into force MEPS also want to see shipowners commit to
this year regarding the sulphur content in marine lowering their annual CO2 emissions by at least

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 38 25•September•2020