Japan's TEPCO buys record amount of LNG in July

TOKYO, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO)
(9501.T) said on Tuesday it bought a record amount of liquefied
natural gas (LNG) for the month of July, as it burns more fossil
fuels due to the extended shutdown of a nuclear power plant.

Japan's biggest utility purchased slightly more than 2
million tonnes of LNG in July, up 16.7 percent from the
year-earlier month, as it works to meet peak summer demand as
higher temperatures and humidity lead to greater use of
air-conditioners.

(For details on purchases, see table below)

TEPCO's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant has been shut
indefinitely since an earthquake in July last year, prompting it
to increase purchases of fossil fuels to work its thermal plants
harder as well as buy electricity from other firms.

The utility said last month it expects the plant shutdown to
increase its fuel and electricity purchase costs by over 700
billion yen this fiscal year. [ID:nT91589]

The boost in LNG demand was also due partly to a new
ultra-efficient, 500,000-kilowatt LNG-fired unit that started
operating in early June at TEPCO's Kawasaki thermal plant near
Tokyo, a company spokesman said.

Following is a table of TEPCO's consumption and purchases
for July. Volumes of crude and fuel oil are in kilolitres; LNG
and coal in tonnes. Last year's figures are in parentheses.

PURCHASES CONSUMPTION
Fuel oil: 581,000 (395,000) 580,000 (403,000)
Crude oil: 265,000 (177,000) 299,000 (160,000)
LNG : 2,033,000 (1,742,000) 1,751,000 (1,631,000)
Coal : 177,000 (341,000) 381,000 (308,000)
(Reporting by James Topham; Editing by Chris Gallagher)