Brazilian imports of liquefied natural gas from Europe are down 42% month on month as recent reload activity in Western Europe has slowed significantly, data from Platts and Bentek Energy showed.

So far this month, Brazil has imported 436,304 cubic meters of LNG (265.7 million cu m or 9.38 Bcf of gas) from European ports in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Spain, down from imports of 749,700 cu m in May.

Despite the reduction in European reload activity, Brazilian LNG buying is already up 10% from May to June. Historically low hydroelectric reservoir levels, which supply 75-80% of Brazil’s power, combined with an increase in demand for electricity from the 2014 FIFA World Cup games, has put the country’s power supply under strain.

Amid the slowdown in European reload activity, Brazil has turned to Nigeria to fill the shortfall. June imports from the African nation are already up 427% from May, to 728,100 cu m, the largest monthly import volume on record.

While Brazil sources most of its spot LNG cargoes from Trinidad and Tobago, Nigerian exports have historically provided the second largest source of liquefied natural gas from abroad.

Over the last year, Spain has emerged as the third largest exporter of LNG to Brazil, sending 1.75 million cu m from June 2013 through May. Over the same 12-month period, Nigeria sent 2.03 million cu m, while Trinidad sent 3.78 million cu m.

As Atlantic trading has slowed, and global LNG prices continue to decline, European LNG offers for FOB lifting, most notably from Spain, have disappeared from the market over the last seven trading days.

Spain may be currently exercising downward quantity tolerance on its contracted LNG imports as the country’s storage volumes are maxed out, and as re-export margins to Asia continue to worsen, several trade sources in Europe said.