Nippon Oil's new LNG terminal to boost sales
Nippon Oil Corp, Japan's largest refiner, said its new liquefied natural gas receiving terminal will help the company increase its share of the gas market as it sells the fuel to businesses in northern Japan.
LNG will be sent via tanker trucks to customers in Aomori, Iwate and Akita prefectures and gas will be piped to clients in Hachinohe City, Kengo Sumiya, gas group manager at Nippon Oil said yesterday in Hachinohe, Aomori prefecture.
Nippon Oil, Japan's only company with an LNG receiving berth in Aomori prefecture, will use the terminal as a beachhead to offer environmentally friendly natural gas for heating and cooking to customers in Aomori prefecture. It's the second LNG terminal owned by Nippon Oil.
'We are targeting sales of up to 60,000 tons of LNG a year from the terminal,' Mr Sumiya said. 'With the two terminals we may sell as much as 1.3 million tons of LNG by 2015.'
Homes and factories in Aomori City and Hachinohe City are currently using gas derived from liquefied petroleum gas, kerosene, fuel oil as well as electricity for heating as the region had no access to the cleaner-burning gas until now.
Nippon Oil will sell LNG to Hachinohe Gas, which is converting its systems to supply natural gas to households and industry in the area. The facility in Hachinohe will have a 4,500 kilolitre storage tank and three regasification units. The facility will have the capacity to process 60,000 tons of LNG a year.
Nippon Oil will buy the LNG from Tokyo Gas Co, Japan's biggest natural gas distributor, and ship it to the terminal from Sodegaura, Chiba prefecture adjacent to Tokyo.
LNG is gas that has been compressed and cooled to a liquid so it can be loaded onto ships and sent to markets that aren't linked to gas fields by pipelines. The fuel is returned to gaseous form and piped to customers.
LNG will be sent via tanker trucks to customers in Aomori, Iwate and Akita prefectures and gas will be piped to clients in Hachinohe City, Kengo Sumiya, gas group manager at Nippon Oil said yesterday in Hachinohe, Aomori prefecture.
Nippon Oil, Japan's only company with an LNG receiving berth in Aomori prefecture, will use the terminal as a beachhead to offer environmentally friendly natural gas for heating and cooking to customers in Aomori prefecture. It's the second LNG terminal owned by Nippon Oil.
'We are targeting sales of up to 60,000 tons of LNG a year from the terminal,' Mr Sumiya said. 'With the two terminals we may sell as much as 1.3 million tons of LNG by 2015.'
Homes and factories in Aomori City and Hachinohe City are currently using gas derived from liquefied petroleum gas, kerosene, fuel oil as well as electricity for heating as the region had no access to the cleaner-burning gas until now.
Nippon Oil will sell LNG to Hachinohe Gas, which is converting its systems to supply natural gas to households and industry in the area. The facility in Hachinohe will have a 4,500 kilolitre storage tank and three regasification units. The facility will have the capacity to process 60,000 tons of LNG a year.
Nippon Oil will buy the LNG from Tokyo Gas Co, Japan's biggest natural gas distributor, and ship it to the terminal from Sodegaura, Chiba prefecture adjacent to Tokyo.
LNG is gas that has been compressed and cooled to a liquid so it can be loaded onto ships and sent to markets that aren't linked to gas fields by pipelines. The fuel is returned to gaseous form and piped to customers.