Tokyo Electric Power May Buy More LNG From Australia’s North

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co., Asia’s biggest utility, may increase purchases of liquefied natural gas from Australia’s Northern Territory, the region’s Chief Minister Paul Henderson said.

Henderson met with the utility, which buys LNG from a ConocoPhillips plant in Darwin, during a trip to Tokyo and Osaka to promote investment and trade opportunities in the Territory, according to a statement e-mailed late yesterday. He also held talks with Osaka Gas Co. and Japan Oil, Gas & Metals National Corp., and will meet Tokyo Gas Co., another Darwin LNG customer.

Inpex Corp., Japan’s largest energy explorer, in September chose Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, as the site for its proposed $20 billion Ichthys LNG project, which will ship fuel to its home market. Inpex and partner Total SA haven’t yet named customers for the gas.

“I want to assure Japanese interests that despite the fallout from the global financial crisis the Territory is open for business,” Henderson said in the statement.

Osaka Gas, Japan’s second-biggest distributor of the fuel, owns a stake in the undeveloped Sunrise gas field off Australia’s northern coast.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at amacdonaldsm@bloomberg.net