Japan’s Power Utilities Use Record Gas in December

LNG usage by Japan’s power utilities touched a record high in December as they shifted away from nuclear power after the Fukushima crisis.

Country’s power utilities used 4.98 million tonne of LNG in December, up 32 percent on year, data from the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan showed.

No reactors taken offline for routine maintenance have been restarted since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami triggered meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi plant, Reuters reported Tuesday.        

Four nuclear reactors entered maintenance shutdowns last month, cutting the average nuclear plant utilisation rate to a fresh record low of 15.2 percent.             

Tokyo is also reviewing its energy policy, which before the quake was highly dependent on expanding nuclear capacity, aiming to shape a new one by August.