TOKYO: Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) bought a record 2.138 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) last month as it tried to ramp up supplies ahead of the peak summer season, after the massive March 11 quake knocked out two of its nuclear power plants and a number of thermal power stations.
The purchase surpassed the previous record of 2.132 million tonnes in August 2010, according to company data. The company said on Wednesday it has procured gas oil and LNG for use in gas turbines in April and May as the operator of the crippled nuclear plant in Fukushima, northeast Japan, needs to boost thermal generation.
TEPCO has said it will need LNG the most among the fossil fuel mix to boost power generation in the summer. All the gas-fired plants operated by TEPCO are located in the Tokyo Bay area and received no significant impact from the quake compared with some of its oil and coal-fired plants in the north eastern Japan.
Four gas-fired power units at four plants, which were shut down after the March 11 quake, all restarted within two weeks after the quake
The company's coal burn last month fell 72 percent from a year earlier, as the coal-fired 1,000 megawatts Hitachinaka plant, damaged by the quake, remained offline. The company aims to restart the Hitachinaka plant by the end of July.
The fuel oil burn also declined, the data showed, but the use of crude oil and LNG rose from a year ago.
Following is a table of TEPCO's consumption and purchases for last month, a year earlier, and the previous month, with year-on-year percentage changes and change in inventories.
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