August 6 ----- Tokyo Electric Power Co bought 1.46 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the spot market in April-June, 22 percent more than the year before, as it looks to compensate for zero output from its nuclear plants following the disaster last year at its Fukushima Daiichi facility.

The company's reliance on spot LNG in the first quarter has more than tripled from 390,000 tonnes in the same period two years ago, as its plan to consume a record 23.3 million tonnes of LNG in the year to next March exceeds volumes that it buys from long-term contracts.Only the two reactors operated by Kansai Electric Power Co  have resumed operations following last year's crisis in Fukushima, which had left all of the country's 50 units offline for safety checks by early May.

Japan's top utility used 5.42 million tonnes of LNG as feedstock for gas-fired power generation in April-June, up 126,000 tonnes from a year ago. Tokyo Electric, or Tepco, left its May outlook for fossil fuel consumption in this business year to next March unchanged. It bought 6.06 million tonnes of spot LNG in 2011/12. Following is a table of Tepco's fossil fuel purchases and purchase plans for April-June and 2012/13, compared with a year earlier. Units are in 1,000 tonnes for LNG and thermal coal, and 1,000 kilolitres for oil. (1 kilolitre=6.2898 barrels.)

Source: hellenicshippingnews.com