Japan's imports of liquefied natural gas may have peaked as its LNG-receiving terminals are operating at full capacity to meet rising demand for the clean-burning fossil fuel, while most of the country's nuclear power plants remain offline, data from the government showed Wednesday.
Japan's imports of liquefied natural gas may have peaked as its
LNG-receiving terminals are operating at full capacity to meet rising demand
for the clean-burning fossil fuel, while most of the country's nuclear power
plants remain offline, data from the government showed Wednesday.
LNG imports in January rose 1% on year to 8.2 million metric tons, the
highest-ever level for a month, Ministry of Finance data showed. The imports
were nearly flat year-on-year despite much colder than normal weather this
winter.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501.TO),
Japan
's
largest power utility by sales volume and the owner of the tsunami-stricken
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, has been running its LNG-receiving
facilities near maximum capacity, said Toshiaki Koizumi, its Fuel Department
General Manager, on Wednesday.
"This is what we can do best. If we need to generate more electricity,
we'll use coal and oil," Mr. Koizumi added.
The company, also called Tepco, is the world second-largest LNG buyer by volume
after Korea Electric Power Corp.
"If Japan wants to increase its LNG imports further, it has to build a few
more receiving terminals," said Yuji Fukuda, president of Itochu Corp.'s
(8001.TO) Energy & Chemical operations.
After a massive earthquake triggered a tsunami that damaged the Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011, the world's worst nuclear accident
for over two decades, Japanese power utilities kept their reactors offline
after regular maintenance. Currently, 48 of the country's 50 reactors are idle.
To make up for lost capacity, the utilities have run their thermal power
stations at high levels. They favor LNG because it produces less carbon dioxide
than coal and is less costly than oil.
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