Osaka Gas Wants to Make Best Use of LNG from Freeport

Osaka Gas wants to make best use of its LNG from the Freeport export project in Texas, according to Platts.

The plan could also include possibly trading put or call options internationally, with a goal of maximizing supply flexibility, a senior company official told Platts earlier this week.

"For us, Freeport LNG has strategic competitiveness with no restrictions of use," Koichiro Age, Osaka Gas senior general manager of the Freeport development unit, said in an interview with Platts in Tokyo.

Age said that might mean supplying LNG to Europe in normal circumstances but exercising options to bring it back to Japan when necessary, adds Platts.

However, Age suggested that company's top priority remains bringing affordable LNG supply to Japan for city gas customers and possibly for power generation.

In February, Chubu Electric Power and Osaka Gas invested $600 million each in the Freeport LNG’s proposed natural gas liquefaction and LNG loading facility.

The two utilities also have liquefaction tolling agreements with Freeport, allowing each to take 120 billion cubic feet of gas as LNG a year with no destination restrictions.

According to Platts, both utilities are for the first time linking LNG imports to U.S. Henry Hub prices.

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