Tokyo Gas Co., Japan’s second-biggest buyer of liquefied natural gas, is in talks with European companies to swap cargoes it owns from the U.S. with those in Asia to reduce shipping times and costs.
The utility is offering cargoes from the Cove Point project on the U.S. East Coast, which is expected to start up late next year and from which its contracted to buy 1.4 million tons a year, Executive Officer Kentaro Kimoto said in an interview. Kimoto declined to identify European companies Tokyo Gas is in talks with and the volume it would be resell.
“It takes a lot of days to bring LNG to our terminals in Japan from the U.S,” Kimoto said in an interview in Tokyo on Wednesday. “We can send cargoes to Europe and in return get the fuel in swap deals with European players who have a position in Asia.”
Shipping U.S. LNG to Japan takes about 20 days while the travel time to Europe is roughly 10 days, according to Kimoto.
The utility is also seeking flexibility amid uncertainty over supply projects including one under development led by Japan’s Inpex Corp. Japan’s biggest oil and gas explorer said in September the startup of the 8.9 million ton a year Ichthys project was delayed until the third-quarter of next year. Tokyo Gas has a deal to buy 1.05 million tons annually from the project.