Chugoku Electric to buy more LNG than planned

Japan’s Chugoku Electric Power Co expects to buy 240,000 tonnes more of LNG during Oct-Mar due to decline in nuclear output.

Earlier this year, the company had projected to buy 795,000 tonnes of LNG during the period.

The company is currently operating only one nuclear reactor and that unit will be shut for planned maintenance by Jan. 28, 2012.

Uncertainty over the restart of nuclear units after the massive March quake in northeast Japan, has led the company to shorten the maintenance period or change the turnaround schedules on some fossil-fuel-fired plants to secure comfortable power supplies for winter.

No reactors taken offline for routine maintenance have been restarted due to public safety fears since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami triggered reactor meltdowns and radiation leaks at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi power station northeast of Tokyo.