The year 2018 started with the inflation of all raw materials which will inevitably exert influences on the cost of gases. The prices of all electricity, light oil, various steel materials and naphtha are on the hike, causing the serious shortage in parts. 　

The high fuel cost is attributed to the rapid hike of the price of crude oil. In terms of WTI (West Texas Intermediate) the price rose up to a $62 level on January 3, up 72% from the same term of last year, in proportion naturally to the prices of LNG and LP gas.

Therefore, all electric companies excepting Chubu Electric announced to revise upward their fuel-cost adjustment prices of electric rates in February following the same in January.

According to the METI’s survey on the in-tank delivered price of light oil, the price is rising from 94.4/ℓ in October up to 98.3/ℓ in November on the national average, which shows an increasing trend by 14% and 15.5% respectively comparing with the same term of last year. The import price of naphtha also increased by 35% to 42,425/kℓ in November.

The basic materials are also increasing. Nippon Steel &
Sumikin Stainless Steel Corp. made a markup of 15 thousand/t for SUS304 in November and 15 thousand/t in December. H-shape steel rose to a Tokyo-time high of 81 thousand/kg in December, which is up 14% over the same term of last year.

Only the above can prove an adequate factor to push up the gas producing and logistics costs. Though it is difficult to show with further data, it is also a problem that all parts are running short. Ranging from various electronics parts to piping materials have still remained tight to procure and are hardly available. The electronics field suffers shortage from memories to sensors. As for the piping materials, pipes to screws are likely to be running shorts.

The shortage of parts has been caused by the advancement of automobile safety system. Since the safety system like auto-stop was loaded on high-class cars to light cars, the number of the required electronics parts like sensors have substantially increased. As a result, the supply of electronics parts has turned out to be so tight.

Now that gas-related equipment manufacturers need electronic controllers like mass-flow controllers or gas detecting alarms, the shortage in electronics parts affects the production system in need of them.

In the semiconductor field, active investments are on the way for 3D-NAND. Nevertheless, the shortage of parts is quite a headache despite the booming demand for equipment.

Also in the gas-related construction work, they still keep struggling to obtain TIG・MIG welding engineers. The field of stainless or non-ferrous metal welding has no other way than depending on man power in most cases for SUS 316L gas pipe welding as well as in the aluminum welding of cryogenic LNG tankers. It cause the hike of wages to obtain human resources.

The situation of the gas market is also serious. Following the price hike of CO2 and helium, the power rate hike involves all production cost hikes from liquids to gases. The rising price of light oil is causing more burden for transportation costs from tank trucks to ordinary trucks. On the other hand, the personnel shortage in filling stations or cylinder carrying operators has become chronic. With the increasing trend of demand, responses are all the more very difficult now.