Tokyo: Japan's largest natural gas distributor, Tokyo Gas Co., is bringing forward plans to open an import terminal for liquefied natural gas in Hitachi city, Ibaraki prefecture, to the north of Tokyo, reports Bloomberg. Commercial operations at the terminal, which together with pipelines will cost $1.1bn, are now scheduled to begin in FY 2015 rather than FY 2017 as before. Tokyo Gas wants to attract new customers in Japan's Kanto area, where it estimates there is a potential for about 9 billion cubic meters a year of additional sales as industrial users switch to the cleaner-burning fuel for electricity and heating water to cut greenhouse gases in line with national energy policy. Japan, the fourth-biggest energy user, aims to trim emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.
Tokyo Gas will build a gasification plant, shipping berth and holding tank with 200,000 kilolitre capacity, according to a statement released by the company. The terminal will be the company's fourth in the region, adding to two terminals in Kanagawa prefecture and a third in Chiba. [26/12/09]
Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited.
