Toho Gas Outlines Medium Term Plan
Japanese utility, Toho Gas, plans to take a number of measures in next few years that will enable it to procure affordable LNG, it said in its Medium-Term Management Plan 2019-2022 published November 30.
Toho said that it will "further diversify procurement areas, price indexes and contract types, using overseas bases to ensure stable LNG procurement at reasonable prices, and work to improve flexibility in procurement systems, including LNG receiving facilities".
It buys LNG from Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Qatar and Russia, and in recent years the company has signed new supply contracts in an attempt to diversify its procurement source. It will start receiving LNG from the US next year and from Canada in 2024. It further stated that that it intends to "establish a procurement system in which price indices for crude oil, and for natural gas in western countries, are combined in a well-balanced manner." Toho also hopes to use spot and short-term procurement to improve flexibility in trading volume; it is also planning to integrate the two terminals, Chita and Yokkaichi, that it operates.
Toho Gas is the third-largest city gas provider in Japan following Tokyo Gas and Osaka Gas, and mainly supplies Aichi, Gifu and Mie Prefectures in the Tokai Area.
Expanding city gas business
Toho is looking to expand its city gas service areas by reinforcing "the city gas transportation network and extending gas pipelines, ensuring the neutrality and transparency of the gas pipeline network business". The company is looking to extend the gas pipeline network in Minamichita, Mie, and Gifu, Taketoyo–Mihama, Inabe–Yokkaichi–Kameyama and Fujioka–Tajimi, Minokamo–Kakamigahara. In addition, the firm intends to expand its LNG supply through the use of trucks to spread and expand the use of natural gas.
Toho said it will actively engage in developing new businesses that can generate synergy with the energy sector. Domestically the company is looking to develop a new local electricity business and a renewable energy generation arm, in cooperation with local government and related companies.
Overseas it aims to enter the energy sector in Southeast Asia, Australia and Europe.