Asia Energy Imports From the U.S. Slide

Energy commodity imports from the United States to Asia declined over the first five months of the year despite efforts by President Trump to use them as a tool of shrinking trade surpluses with Asian nations.

Crude oil imports between February and May declined from 1.55 million barrels daily to 1.53 million barrels daily, Kpler data showed, as cited by Reuters’ Clyde Russell. Over the same period, imports of liquefied natural gas dropped by as much as 40%, to4.78 million tons from 8.04 million tons a year earlier.

Coal imports from the U.S. registered a more modest decline, from 14.19 million tons in February to May 2024 to 13.79 million tons this year, Russell also reported.

Part of this decline comes from China, which slapped tariffs on U.S. energy imports in response to Trump’s tariffs, sapping appetite for the commodities in Asia’s biggest importer. Yet other Asian nations have also curbed some of their energy imports—for price reasons. This is especially evident in LNG, where spot market prices affected demand from the largest importing region in the world.

This is not exactly a problem for U.S. LNG exporters: total U.S. LNG exports jumped by 20% between January and April from a year earlier as buying activity in Europe remained strong amid a cold winter and low gas inventory levels. U.S. LNG shipments hit a record high for the January-April period of 34.6 million metric tons, according to data from Kpler released last month.

India, meanwhile, has been importing more U.S. oil and coal. Per the Kpler data, India bought 253,000 bpd of U.S. crude between February and May, which was up from 175,000 bpd a year earlier. The increase is set to intensify this month, with Kpler seeing arrivals of 439,000 barrels daily. In coal, India bought 12% more from the United States between February and May, at 8.82 million tons.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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