Japanese coal demand rises

Japan’s major power utilities consumed 16.3% less crude and fuel oil in October than last year, as the country’s use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal increased, according to data released by the Federation of Electric Power Companies (FERC).

In October, the country’s 10 leading power utilities consumed 202 204 bbl/d of crude, down 7.3% from last year, and 179 865 bbl/d of fuel oil, a drop of 24.5%, according to FEPC data.

Consumption of LNG increased 8.4% from October 2012 to 4.62 million t, while coal demand rose 25.8% to a record 4.78 million t in October. The power utilities' collective consumption of oil totalled 77 521 bbl/d in October, a decrease of 16.3% from last October.

Japan's oil demand for power generation has considerably dropped this year as Tokyo Electric Power Company has reduced its consumption after starting test runs in April at two coal-fired units at Hitachinaka and Hirono with combined capacity of 1.6 GW.

Tepco has an additional 1 GW of output following the complete restart of Tohoku Electric's Haramachi coal-fired power plant, which was hit by the 2011 earthquake.

The Japanese power utilities purchased 185 194 bbl/d of crude in October, down 18.5% from last year, and 165 083 bbl/d of fuel oil, a decrease of 36.3%. The utilities purchased 5.05 million t of LNG, an increase of 13.1%. The purchase of coal rose 4.4% year-on-year to 4.55 million t.

Power companies generated 53 774 GWh of electricity from thermal power plants in October, an increase of 6.2% year-on-year. Overall power generation by the country’s major utilities increased by 2% from last year to 71 409 GWh in October, according to FEPC data.

Edited from various sources by Katie Woodward

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