LNG

The number of liquefied natural gas cargoes pointing at Asian import terminals and being delivered this week increased as prices also edged higher while European natural gas benchmark values declined as storage levels roseacross Europe.

Jan 9 (LNG) - Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), MOL Ferry Co., Japan Petroleum Exploration (Japex) and Hokkaido Gas have signed two separate agreements between MOL and Japex and between MOL and the utility Hokkaido Gas for the supply of LNG fuel to two newbuild LNG-powered ferries in each port on the Oarai-Tomakomai route operated by MOL Group company MOL Ferry.

   “The LNG fuel supply is scheduled to start in 2025 when the ferries will enter service. Japex will supply LNG fuel to the ferries at the Port of Oarai in Ibaraki Prefecture and Hokkaido Gas will supply it at the Port of Tomakomai in Hokkaido through the truck-to- ship method,” they added.

The Australian Government said its LNG export revenues are forecast to reach A$90 billion (US$60.2Bln) in 2022–23 on record high global energy prices and a lower Australian dollar.

JERA Co. Inc., the largest Japanese LNG importer, has resumed operations at the gas-fired Anegasaki Thermal Power Station located on the eastern side of Tokyo Bay and currently under a long-term planned shutdown scheduled for February 2023.

JERA explained that that Unit 5 facility at the station was scheduled to resume operations on October 24 to supply auxiliary steam for the restart of Unit 6 at the Anegasaki power plant.

“Because the Unit had deteriorated over time and its utilization rate had declined, the Unit has been in a long-term planned shutdown since April 2021,” said JERA.

However, discussions at the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry's electricity and gas policy committee led to an agreement for a re-start to help underpin Japan’s energy security.

“JERA has lifted the Unit’s long-term planned shutdown and will operate it as part of measures to provide additional power supply capacity for this winter,” added JERA.

The utility company added that it would “make every effort” in cooperation with related parties to ensure a stable supply of energy to the plant and at other power facilities.

The 600-megawatts Anegasaki plant is a conventional gas plant and in operation using LNG as fuel since 1979.

The decision to shut the plant was taken in April 2021 before the current energy crisis deepened with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

JERA is the largest corporate LNG buyer in the world with annual volumes of around 35 million tonnes and controls a fleet of around 20 LNG carriers.

Additionally, it is Japan’s biggest fossil-fuel generator being owned jointly by Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Chubu Electric, the two largest power companies.

The company currently operates and provides fuel for a total of 26 power plants in Japan and imports LNG into 11 of Japan’s network of 37 terminals.