TOKYO : Liquefied natural gas stocks held by Japan's major electricity utilities will likely increase towards the peak winter demand season, the industry ministry said on Wednesday, after stocks fell to their lowest since early 2021.
LNG inventories held by major Japanese power companies, a key indicator of the country's stock levels, were down to 1.56 million metric tons as of Sept. 24, data released by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed.Japan was the world's biggest LNG buyer in 2022. Electric utilities hold about a half of the country's LNG inventories, with the remaining held by city gas suppliers.
"But we expect a recovery from now," he told an expert committee on basic policy for electricity and gas. Japan saw the highest average temperature for the summer since records began in 1898, with the average temperature for the June-August surpassing the 30-year average by 1.76 degrees Celsius, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.