Imports of liquefied natural gas into Asian countries fell last month by the sharpest rate since 2020, when pandemic lockdowns decimated energy demand. The total for the month stood at 20.6 million tons, Bloomberg calculated, which was down by 8.6% on March 2025 – the most sizable drop since December 2020.
Pakistan saw the biggest drop in LNG imports since it was buying it mainly from Qatar. LNG shipments to the country last month plummeted by 70% from a year earlier. India and China also cut their imports substantially, both seeing them down by about 20% from a year earlier.
Asia is the biggest market for liquefied natural gas. Asia is also the destination of up to 90% of Qatari and Emirati LNG, or was, until last month. With the shutdown of Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG complex and the Strait of Hormuz traffic disruption, Asia is facing a lot of energy supply pain, and that pain is going to be prolonged.
To cushion the blow, Asian energy importers turned to alternative sources of liquefied gas, but with several of Australia’s massive LNG production sites disrupted by a recent cyclone, the choice of suppliers has been significantly reduced. Some are turning to U.S. LNG, snapping up cargoes initially destined for Europe. So far, since the start of March, almost a dozen LNG carriers have diverted from Europe to Asia, according to cargo-tracking providers.
Others are turning to coal, including Bangladesh, India, China, and Japan. In fact, Asia as a whole is ramping up coal power generation. Although coal prices have increased by 17% since the war began, the rise is small compared to the 70% jump in Asia’s spot LNG prices. Bloomberg Intelligence has predicted that Asian LNG prices could surge by 50% on stiffer competition for a limited amount of supply.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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