LNG

June 15 (LNGJ) - Tokyo Gas, the leading Japanese utility, city-gas company and LNG importer, is continuing with a feasibility study for a gas-fired thermal power plant using regasified LNG in Sodegaura City in Chiba Prefecture. The plant would be constructed at an unused industrial site owned by Idemitsu Kosan, Japan’s petroleum refining company.

   The study had originally been with another utility, Kyushu Electric Power, but Kyushu has since pulled out. “However, Tokyo Gas intends to continue the feasibility study going forward,” said the utility.

May 12 (LNGJ) - Kyushu Electric Power, a long-term LNG buyer with current long-term contracts with the Australian Gorgon LNG and Wheatstone LNG plants, has launched a new subsidiary for LNG trading. “Kyushu has launched a new subsidiary dedicated to supply to meet emerging demand,” said the company.

   Kyushu Electric said that the function of the optimization of fuel procurement would be transferred to the new subsidiary to integrate delivery scheduling and balancing in incremental demand and existing demand. The new LNG trading company, based in Fukuoka in Japan, will be called Q United Energy Supply and Trading Co. (Quest).

Jan 13 (LNGJ) - Japanese utility and liquefied natural gas buyer Kyushu Electric Power issued a statement saying it was urgently seeking cargoes for its gas-fired plants. “As an emergency measure, we have begun buying 2,000-4,000 tonnes of LNG left in carriers in Asia after having discharged their cargoes to secure our fuel,” said the utility in reference to the heel left in tankers to maintain cool-down.

   Kyushu Electric, based in the city of Fukuoka in the southernmost Japanese island, said it was also asking other Japanese power companies to swap deliveries if possible. Benchmark power prices in Japan have reached a record high of 232.20 Japanese yen ($2.23) per kilowatt hour. Other Japanese utilities have asked customers to try and save power usage because of gas shortages.   

Tokyo Gas, the Japanese utility and energy company with a liquefied  natural gas portfolio of 14 million tonnes per annum and a fleet of 10 ships and four import terminals, has launched a new company brand in Japan and is planning to launch a separate LNG trading division to boost profits.

Norwegian-listed engineering company Subsea 7 SA said it would be going ahead with a substantial contract for the second phase of the Julimar-Brunello field development project linked to the supply of feed-gas to the Wheatstone LNG export plant in Western Australia operated by US major Chevron Corp.