LNG demand rising

NEW YORK, June 6 (UPI) -- Making up for Japanese energy deficits with liquefied natural gas could be an overall trend after the March earthquake and tsunami, a bank analysis finds.

A magnitude-9 quake and tsunami crippled parts of the Japan's nuclear power sector and created an energy deficit in Japan that has been addressed by increased LNG imports.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch in a report cited by The Daily Telegraph newspaper in London finds the market for LNG getting tighter.

The bank said it expected LNG imports for Japan to increase nearly 10-fold by the end of the year.

"The increased Japanese demand is accelerating a progressive market tightening that had already been ongoing for a while due to the strength in LNG demand growth," the bank said.

Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said last year that it was taking a closer look at markets in Asia. The company last week landed a deal with in India for more than 7.5 million tons of LNG for the next 25 years.

"As far as Asian market today is concerned, as a fallout from the Japanese events, competition for access to LNG has toughened and tightened and we are witnessing high demand for it," Gazprom chief Alexei Miller was quoted by The Daily Telegraph as saying.