On August 21st, initial signs indicated that some Asian countries are increasing their imports of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) as part of the trade deal reached with U.S. President Trump.
Data compiled by Kpler shows that Asia's LNG imports in August are expected to reach 2.01 million tons, an 8-month high.
But more importantly, Kpler estimates that Asian imports of LNG from the United States will surge to 3.61 million tons in October, which will be the second-highest level since February 2021, when it stood at 3.75 million tons.
The October forecast requires caution because these cargoes are in the preliminary arrangement stage and may not actually be loaded.
However, even if the actual volume declines, the U.S. LNG arriving in Asia in October is likely to still see a sharp increase.
The buyers of all this LNG have not yet been fully disclosed, but preliminary destination data shows that most of it is flowing to North Asia, which mainly refers to Japan and South Korea.
As part of the deals reached with Trump on import tariffs and investments, the world's second and third largest LNG buyers (Japan and South Korea) have both committed to increasing energy imports from the United States.