A man walks past in front of a sign board of Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, the asset management unit of Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (MUFG), in Tokyo, Japan July 31, 2017. REUTERS/Issei KatoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Florence Tan, Additional reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo in Tokyo; Editing by Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. .
SINGAPORE, July 20 (Reuters) – Mitsubishi Corp bought a cargo of Vietnamese crude for loading in September on behalf of Japanese utilities at a record premium for the grade, traders said on Wednesday.The purchase comes after Nippon Steel bought a liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo at the highest price ever paid in Japan. The world’s No. 2 LNG importer is scrambling for power fuels as a global heatwave drives electricity demand this summer. read more “Japan has a power shortage, so it has to pay up. Other countries also have the same problem now, especially in Europe,” one of the traders said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Mitsubishi paid a premium of $21 a barrel to dated Brent for the 300,000-barrel cargo of Vietnamese Chim Sao crude, said two of the traders who regularly track the grade.That puts the cost of the cargo at about $127 a barrel based on current Brent prices, or $38.1 million.Mitsubishi does not comment on individual deals, a spokesperson said.Japan last imported Chim Sao crude in February and April, according to Refinitiv data.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com