Reuters: Japan's Average LNG Import Price Lowest Since September 2009

Japan's average price for imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell to the lowest since September 2009 in June, cutting the country's fuel bill after record amounts of the gas have been imported to burn in power stations since the Fukushima disaster.

LNG import prices averaged $8.65 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) in June, down from $8.84 in the previous month and marking a seventh straight month of declines, Reuters calculations based on preliminary trade data from the Finance Ministry showed on Thursday.

Japan, which takes in about a third of global LNG shipments, spent a record 7.85 trillion yen ($63.28 billion) on 88.51 million tonnes of the fuel in 2014, after the meltdowns at Fukushima in 2011 led to the shutdown of all the country's nuclear reactors.

Japan's LNG imports last month were 6.63 million tonnes, down 2.8 percent from a year earlier and the third monthly year on year decline, the data showed. MORE