JERA Chief says company must sign new LNG contracts because old ones have expired

As older contracts expire, the head of JERA (Japan's largest power generator) said that JERA needs to sign new deals to purchase liquefied gas in order to meet Japanese demand for power.

"Power demand is not decreasing in Japan now... but our contracts are going to expire one by one." We need to close the gap simply by signing new contracts," Yukio KANI, global CEO and chairman of JERA said at the Energy Asia Conference.

The 2030s will still see a large LNG demand that is not covered by long term contracts.

JERA announced last week that it had increased its LNG production to meet the rising demand.

Buy Now, Pay Later

Up to 5.5 millions metric tons of LNG per year will be imported from the United States, under contracts that run for 20 years, with U.S. suppliers NextDecade, Sempra Infrastructure, Cheniere Marketing, and Commonwealth LNG.

Kani stated that the U.S. Gulf Coast and Qatar are the main sources of new LNG supplies. He said it was time to sign contracts with long-term durations to ensure LNG at competitive prices.

Then,

Alaska LNG

Kani, the project manager at JERA, said that JERA awaited a due diligence document. JERA and other East Asian LNG buyers have shown interest in the $44 billion project, but they are still hesitant to give it their full support because of its high cost.

Kani said that JERA closely monitored the Middle East conflict.

Diversify your LNG portfolio, which is the most basic thing we can do.

(source: Reuters)