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The Edo refinery is due to begin operating in the into lasting support for LNG purchases, however.
near future – as is another modular plant that Japanese power and gas utilities’ high commit-
Waltersmith, a Nigerian company, is building in ment to long-term volumes is likely to stifle buyer
Imo State. interest for additional volumes even if winter tem-
This 5,000 bpd facility is slated to come on peratures are colder than expected, Platts quoted
stream in mid-October, the Nigerian Content unnamed market sources as saying in late August.
Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Japanese demand for LNG has been slowly
said last week. Waltersmith, like AIPCC Energy, tapering off in the wake of the country’s restart
also hopes to expand its plant at a later date; and of nuclear power generation, with nine reac-
it hopes to push processing volumes up to 50,000 tors having been reactivated so far. The Japan
bpd eventually. Atomic Energy Commission has called for more
to be brought back online in order to reduce the
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping country’s carbon emissions and stabilise power
Asia’s oil and gas sector then please click here for supplies. The situation, coupled with tighter So far, investment
NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor. maritime emission rules, has encouraged Japa-
nese shipping companies to speed up develop- in Nigerian gas
Asia: Japan’s LNG imports shrink ment of LNG bunker options.
While Japan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K-Line) named production and
imports shrank by 4.1% year on year in August Japan’s first LNG bunkering vessel last week infrastructure has
to 5.84mn tonnes, cheaper supplies of the fuel at Kawasaki Heavy Industries’ (KHI) Sakaide
prevented a steeper decline. The country paid Works. Central LNG Marine Fuel Japan will use been weak
JPY190.9bn ($1.83bn) for its LNG deliveries last the vessel, christened Kaguya on September 16,
month, which was 44% less than in August 2019. to begin supplying LNG to ships in the Chubu
August volumes were also down 3.3% from region before the end of the year, K-Line said
the 6.04mn tonnes imported in July. Deliveries on September 18. Kaguya’s first supply opera-
in the first eight months of the year amounted to tions will involve the NYK-operated pure car
48.2mn tonnes, around JPY2.3 trillion ($22.01bn). and truck carrier (PCTC) vessel Sakura Leader,
While industrial gas demand remains subdued which is the first large PCTC to be fuelled by
in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pan- LNG.
demic, demand from the power sector picked up The bunkering vessel will also supply a new
as the economics of LNG over coal-fired genera- car carrier that K-Line is set to deliver before the
tion improved. Japanese thermal coal shipments end of March 2021.
contracted by 12% y/y in August to 7.9mn tonnes,
according to provisional Finance Ministry data. If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
The uptick in last month’s power demand, owing Asia’s oil and gas sector then please click here for
to a summer heat wave, is not expected to translate NewsBase’s AsianOil Monitor.

Week 38 24•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7