Hokkaido Gas Finalises Mitsui LNG Deal

Japanese utility Hokkaido Gas said October 4 it has finalised a preliminary deal, originally inked September 2016, to buy three LNG cargoes totaling 200,000 metric tons annually from Japanese trader Mitsui & Co. The contract will run for ten years.

The supplies are expected to commence in 2019 and the LNG will be received at the Ishikari LNG terminal on Hokkaido Island. Mitsui will source the fuel from its own portfolio which includes some equity production from Russia's Sakhalin 2 venture and Equatorial Guinea LNG.

Hokkaido Gas in September 2016 commenced operation at 200,000 m³ No 2 LNG tank at Ishikari terminal. It will expand the new tank capacity at the terminal to 380,000 m³; construction of the tank began in 2013. Hokkaido Gas owns the first and the second tank while the third and fourth tanks at the Ishikari terminal belong to Hokkaido Electric.

Hokkaido is the northernmost, and coldest, of Japan’s four main islands.

Shardul Sharma