Japan set for GECF LNG talks

Members of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), led by Mohammad Hossein Adeli, will meet with senior government officials in Japan on Monday to discuss LNG pricing. There are 13 members of the GECF including Russia, Qatar and the UEA.

The talks, which represent Japan’s first formal discussion on the topic of LNG trading and prices, will assess how LNG is traded. Senior officials from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will attend.

The Japanese government, and other Asian countries, claim that the oil-linked prices they pay do not reflect international supply and demand. Japan will call for a fairer pricing index, based on supply and demand.

The price of importing natural gas in Japan has risen sharply in recent years by the high price of crude oil linked to long-term LNG contracts, a weakening yen and increased demand in Japan due to the redundancy of over 50 nuclear plants following the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

Last year, Japan paid nearly US$ 10 billion more for the price of LNG than it did for the previous year. It imports approximately 88 million tpa.

Edited from various sources by Ted Monroe

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