Financial Times: Inpex transformation takes urgent tone

On a barren stretch of coastline in Japan’s northern Niigata prefecture lies Naoetsu, a gas-receiving terminal under construction by Inpex, the country’s biggest energy explorer and producer.

Unlike most of the 28 facilities already built to handle shipments of liquefied natural gas, Naoetsu is lapped by the Sea of Japan rather than the more quake-prone Pacific Ocean. However, since the tsunami in March last year, engineers have reinforced levees and lifted the foundations of the site’s power generators. “We have to consider every risk,” says construction co-ordinator Hiroshi Une. MORE