"Japan's Tepco buys 2.2 mil mt LNG in July, highest since Aug 2012: source
Tokyo (Platts)--5Aug2013/342 am EDT/742 GMT
Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Company bought around 2.2 million mt of LNG in July, marking its largest monthly purchase volume since August 2012, a source close to the matter said Monday.
Tepco bought 2.251 million mt of LNG in August 2012, according to company data.
Tepco's July LNG purchase was 10% larger than 1.815 million mt in June, the data showed.
In July, Tepco bought "one additional LNG cargo" for delivery to ensure stable supply in the month after the company did not secure any additional cargo for delivery in June after facing weak power demand over April-June, Platts reported earlier.
Tepco consumed slightly above 2 million mt of LNG in July as planned earlier, the source said.
Tepco has not bought any additional LNG cargoes for August or September, the source added.
In August, Tepco plans to buy 2.1-2.2 million mt of LNG for the month, the source said.
In a weather forecast released Friday by the Japan Meteorological Agency, the Kanto/Koshin region, which includes Tokyo, is forecast to experience temperatures above the 30-year average for the month to September 2.
Japan is in the midst of its summer power demand season over July-September, when the weather influences demand for crude, fuel oil, LPG and LNG used for thermal power generation.
Tepco had to increase power generation using fossil fuels -- coal, crude, fuel oil and LNG -- after the March 11, 2011, earthquake that caused an automatic shutdown of its Fukushima-1 (Daiichi) and Fukushima-2 (Daini) nuclear power plants with a combined capacity of 9 GW in Japan's northeast.
Tepco lost the last of its nuclear output March 26, 2012, when it shut its remaining 1.356-GW No. 6 nuclear reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant for scheduled maintenance. It remains unclear when Tepco will be allowed to restart any nuclear reactors."
Japan stays thirsty