Kansai Electric to Buy More LNG from Qatar

Kansai Electric Power Co has inked a deal with Qatargas to buy 500,000 tonnes per year (tpa) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 15 years from January 2013.

Reuters in a news reports said that the deal is in addition to an existing contract for 290,000 tpa for 23 years from 1999 to 2021.

The move comes as the company has been increasing spot LNG purchases from Qatar to fill the void of nuclear power it had lost following the massive March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a company spokesman said, Reuters said.

Kansai bought 1.79 million tonnes of Qatari LNG in the year ended in March, accounting for 24 percent of Kansai's total LNG imports.