TOKYO, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Japan's imports of liquefied

natural gas hit a monthly record of 8.23 million tonnes in

January, on an increased need for fuel to generate electricity

after the nuclear sector was hit by the Fukushima crisis,

customs-cleared Ministry of Finance data showed on Wednesday.

Japan, the world's top LNG importer that shipped in a record

87.31 million tonnes last year, started the first month of the

year with a 1 percent gain over the previous monthly record of

8.15 million tonnes hit in January 2012.

With only two of the nation's 50 commercial reactors in

operation since July and no schedules for any more restarts at

least until July, the utilities' strong reliance on LNG is

expected to persist for a while longer.

Japan logged a record trade deficit of 6.927 trillion

yen($78.24 billion) in 2012, partly due to soaring LNG import

values of 6 trillion yen.

Japan's customs-cleared crude oil imports fell 4.7 percent

in January to 17.938 million kilolitres (3.64 million barrels

per day) of crude oil last month, the preliminary data also

showed.

That compared with December imports of 19.687 million kl.

Imports of thermal coal for power generation fell 13.1

percent in January to 8.71 million tonnes, the data showed.

Following is a preliminary breakdown of energy imports for

last month, with volumes of crude, oil products and

gasoline/naphtha in million kilolitres; LNG, LPG and coal in

million tonnes; values in million yen.

Fuel type Volume Yr/Yr(%) Value Yr/Yr(%)

Mineral Fuels n/a n/a 2,260,247 8.8

Crude Oil 17.938 -4.7 1,099,393 5.9

Oil products n/a n/a 256,280 33.7

(Mogas/naphtha) 2.164 8.6 127,587 27.6

LNG 8.230 1.0 606,767 11.4

LPG 1.280 28.6 114,652 70.2

Coal 15.292 -9.2 180,614 -22.0

(Thermal Coal) 8.714 -13.1 91,246 -20.7

(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Aaron Sheldrick and

Ed Davies)

Keywords: ENERGY JAPAN/MOF

(osamu.tsukimori@thomsonreuters.com)(+813 6441 1857)(Reuters Messaging: osamu.tsukimori.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)

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