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The U.S. and Japanese governments said they plan to continue their cooperation in the energy sector by providing training, financing and technical assistance to countries within the Indo-Pacific region, ostensibly to promote U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Asia.

JERA Co. Inc. said its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo produced in the contiguous United States arrived at the Joetsu LNG Terminal of Chubu Electric Power Co. last Friday. It is the first Lower 48 U.S. LNG cargo to be delivered to Japan, the company said. JERA and Cheniere Marketing International LLP had entered into a sale and purchase agreement for the cargo, which was loaded onto the LNG vessel Oak Spiritat Cheniere Energy Partners LP’s Sabine Pass LNG Terminal in Louisiana on Dec. 7. The voyage to Japan via the Panama Canal took about one month. JERA said it believes the purchase of US LNG will contribute to a stable energy supply in Japan through the diversification of procurement regions and LNG price indices. JERA said it will establish an “LNG procurement portfolio that can flexibly respond to changes in the business environment by increasing its procurement ratio of LNG which is free from destination restrictions, through projects such as the Freeport LNG Project in [the United States].”

Next-day natural gas romped higher in Monday’s trading as wintry conditions and below normal temperatures brought buyers off the bench and sent next-day prices higher by double-digits. The NGI National Spot Gas Average rose a stout 30 cents to $2.75.

Shizuoka Gas Co. and Shell Eastern Trading (Pte) Ltd. have struck a liquefied natural gas (LNG) sale and purchase agreement (SPA) that will utilize the export capability recently added to the Shimizu LNG Terminal. It’s another move toward increasing LNG supply flexibility and trading capabilities by the Japanese utility.

British Columbia (BC) Premier Christy Clark used a trade mission to Japan to give formal political support this week to the industry lineup to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals on the province’s northern Pacific coast.

Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. and the U.S.-based Gas Technology Institute (GTI) have formed an alliance intended to help Japanese companies participate in unconventional gas-related businesses.

Japan and Canada will engage in talks over the potential for future exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Canada to Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported.

The state of Alaska and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that could advance a large-volume natural gas pipeline and related liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility to commercialize the state’s stranded gas reserves.

Ministers from Japan and India meeting in Tokyo Monday agreed for the liquefied natural gas (LNG)-consuming countries to work together to secure what they believe would be more equitable pricing for supplies.