Naphtha Shortage Forces Japanese Petrochemical Producers to Curb Output

Japan’s LNG imports are not much affected by the supply shock in the Middle East, but Japanese industrial natural gas use could drop anyway if petrochemicals plants continue to see naphtha supplies constrained, executives at the biggest Japanese gas providers said on Wednesday. “As we have a number of customers who use naphtha or other petroleum products in their manufacturing operations, any move to scale back their activities or operations could have an impact on our gas sales,” Shinichi Sasayama, president of Tokyo Gas,…