According to Reuters, Japan’s Jera Co. – the world’s largest LNG importer – has resold an LNG cargo to South Korea. This marks the first delivery to a customer outside of Japan and is a major step towards the expansion of the company’s trading business.
Reuters reports that the 60 000 t cargo will be delivered to the Gwangyang terminal in South Korea in December 2016. It will be stored in tank that Itochu Corp. has leased from Posco.
Hiroki Sato, Jera’s Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Fuel Transactions Officer, reportedly said: “We want to make this an opening move to expand Jera's marketing and trading operations.
“We are in talks on similar deals with buyers in Europe and Asia and aim to clinch more deals by the end of the year.”
Sato reportedly went on to say that the company is planning to increase the volumes it sells to other companies both home and abroad to between 3 and 4 million tpy – or 10% of total LNG trading volumes – by 2030, in order to offset the fall in domestic demand.
Sato said: “We would never want to drop our billboard as the world's top LNG buyer.
“We aim to achieve at least 10% by 2020, and possibly as high as 20 or 30% by 2030.”
Edited from various sources by David Rowlands