Japan 2016 thermal coal imports fall from record, LNG purchases down for second year

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Japan's coal imports for power generation fell in 2016 from four years of successive record highs and LNG purchases dropped for a second year as an energy crisis brought on by the 2011 Fukushima disaster eased, official data showed.

Rising supplies of homegrown renewable energy and the return of some nuclear power, amid falling demand as Japan's population declines, mean the world's third-largest economy has more diversity in its sources of energy.

Thermal coal imports declined to just below 110 MMt in 2016, down from a record-high 113.84 MMt in 2015, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday. Import costs fell 20% from a year earlier.

Shipments of LNG dropped for a second year last year, down 2% to 83.34 MMt, while their value fell 40%.

Japan is the world's biggest importer of LNG, gas chilled to liquid form for transportation on ships, and demand had surged to successive records after the March 2011 meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant led to the eventual shutdown of all reactors in the country.

But two reactors are now operating under new safety standards and more may be restarted this year.

Crude oil imports slipped to 3.35 MMbpd, the lowest since 1988, with their value falling by nearly a third.

Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick and Osamu Tsukimori; Writing by Aaron Sheldrick

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