Wednesday, Dec 07, 2011
--Qatargas CEO says in talks with potential LNG buyers in Japan
--Says total 10 million tons supplied to Japan since March earthquake
--Chubu Electric, Shizuokagas sign LNG deal with Qatargas starting 2016
By Mari Iwata and Alex Delmar-Morgan
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
TOKYO/DOHA (Dow Jones)--Qatargas may supply additional liquefied natural gas to Japan, the firm's top executive said Wednesday, after the state-run company signed a contract to sell 1.2 million metric tons, or about 200,000 tons a year, of the supercooled fuel to Chubu Electric Power Co. (9502.TO) and Shizuokagas Co. (9543.TO).
Qatargas chief executive Khalid Bin Khalifa Al Thani told reporters in Doha that the company was talking to "other potential Japanese buyers" to supply even more LNG. He added that a total 10 million tons of LNG had been supplied to Japan since the country was struck by a devastating earthquake in March.
Qatargas will deliver the LNG in the six years from 2016. Under the terms of the contract, Chubu Electric and Shizuokagas will decide how to split the annual 200,000 tons of LNG, they said in a joint statement.
A huge earthquake, triggering a devastating tsunami, struck Japan in March damaging nuclear energy plants. As a result, the Asian country--already the world's largest importer of LNG--has purchased more of the liquid gas from Qatar to make up the shortfall in nuclear energy as reactors lie idle.
Qatar, holder of the world's third-largest natural gas reserves after Russia and Iran, is the world's biggest LNG exporter by far with capacity of about 77 million tons a year.
-By Mari Iwata and Alex Delmar-Morgan, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-6269-2798; mari.iwata@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
07-12-11 0945GMT
