Tokyo Gas' new Hitachi LNG terminal started commercial operations Thursday, and the new regasification terminal is now connected to the new Ibaraki-Tochigi 79.9-km trunk line, the Japanese utility said Friday.
The Hitachi terminal has already received three cargoes this year, one from Malaysia's Bintulu and two from Russia's Sakhalin, according to cFlow, Platts trade flow software.
With this new pipeline, the Hitachi LNG terminal and Tokyo Gas' three other terminals located along the coast of Tokyo Bay -- Sodegaura, Negishi and Ohgishima -- are all connected, the gas utility said.
Tokyo Gas is gearing up for the power business as the retail power market is scheduled to fully open up next month and is aiming to expand its LNG use.
In its supply plan announced Friday, Tokyo Gas said it expects 12.71 million mt of LNG to be consumed in fiscal 2020-21 (April-March), compared with an estimated 11.53 million mt in the current fiscal year ending this month.
Tokyo Gas sees the LNG consumption to fall from now to fiscal year 2017-18 as the retail gas market is expected to be fully liberalized in April 2017, but their use is expected to rebound in the following years.
The Tokyo-based gas utility is also pushing its plan to build a second LNG tank with capacity to hold 230,000 kl, or 230,000 cu m, at its Hitachi LNG terminal by 2020.
A new plan to build a new LNG tank at its Sodegaura terminal is also under consideration, Tokyo Gas said.
