Results of FY2022 Survey on LNG Handling Volume by Japanese Companies

18th Oct 2022

1. Outline of our survey

• Objectives: The government policy of "New Strategy for International Resources" (March 2020) sets a target of 100 million tons of LNG volume handled by Japanese companies by FY2030, including so called “external trade”. The Strategy states that in order to enhance LNG security and maintain Japan's influence in the international LNG market, LNG policy should be shifted to a direction that encourages Japanese companies to become involved in transactions supplied to overseas, taking into account the entire value chain from production to receiving of LNG. This is the second year since the survey was launched in FY2021 for the purpose of confirming the status of achievement of this target.
• Survey Period:  June to August 2022 (two-month period), briefing sessions were held prior to the survey.
• Survey Targets: A total of 30 Japanese companies which handle LNG, such as electric power companies, gas companies, trading companies, oil companies, and steel companies (all companies cooperated with our survey.)

2. Definition of “LNG handling volume by Japanese companies”

• The LNG handling volume by Japanese companies is defined as the LNG volume that is possessed, even temporarily, by Japanese companies for procurement or sales. In order to eliminate duplication between procurement and sales of LNG, the LNG volume handled is the sum of (1) the LNG procured for consumption in Japan and (2) the LNG sold to third countries.
• The LNG procured for consumption in Japan (1) is defined as the volume of LNG received by Japanese companies at receiving terminals in Japan as the final destination. Then the survey extracts the data of the import volume from the Trade Statistics of Japan, Ministry of Finance. The LNG sold to third countries (2); “external trade” consists of (A) LNG of which Japanese companies have offtake rights through participation in LNG projects and (B) LNG procured by Japanese companies through term contracts and spot trade. Note that duplication of trades by Japanese companies for resale after sales to foreign companies is not excluded.

3. Results of our survey

• The LNG handling volume by Japanese companies was 109.57 Mt  in FY2021. This is a slight decrease of 0.73 Mt from the previous year, but the Japanese companies have continuously achieved 100 Mt since FY 2019.
• The FY2019 and FY2020 actual figures have been revised in this survey due to correction reports from the surveyed companies.
• LNG imports in FY2021 totaled 71.46 Mt, a decrease of 4.9 Mt from the previous year, while the volume of the “external trade” increased by 4.17 Mt to 38.11 Mt, resulting in the LNG handling volume in FY2021 almost the same level as in FY2020.
• The volume of the “external trade” increased in FY2021 compared to the previous year for the offtake volume of LNG projects, while the volume procured through term contracts and spot trades decreased.