Tepco plans LNG import terminal at Sendai

April 1, 2008
Japan's Tohoku Electric Power will build a new LNG import terminal at Sendai, aiming to disperse its LNG sites in order to minimize the risk of supply disruptions from earthquakes and other problems.

Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, Apr. 1 -- Japan's Tohoku Electric Power Co. (Tepco) will build a new LNG import terminal at Sendai, aiming to disperse its LNG sites in order to minimize the risk of supply disruptions from earthquakes and other problems.

Tepco, which currently receives all of its LNG at its Niigata terminal, said the new facility will have storage capacity of 1 million tonnes of LNG and is expected to begin operations around 2016.

On Mar. 6, Tohoku Electric received some 70,000 tonnes of LNG on a spot basis from Qatar that arrived at the Niigata terminal aboard a Q-Flex vessel. It was the second Q-Flex cargo to arrive in Japan after the first shipment in January (OGJ Online, Jan. 11, 2008).

In December 2007 Tepco signed an 8-year agreement to purchase gas from North West Shelf Australia LNG. Tepco would purchase about a million tonnes/year from 2010.

Tepco's territory covers seven prefectures in the Tohoku region of northeastern Japan, providing gas to electric machinery makers and other large-lot electricity users.

Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].