Japan's Osaka Gas expects its annual LNG consumption to remain virtually the same at around 7 million mt for the next five years due to growing competition in the retail market and limited gas sales growth going forward, the gas utility said Thursday.
In its five-year supply plan, Osaka Gas said its LNG use is expected to be at 6.997 million mt in the fiscal year 2020-2021 (April-March).
Consumption is expected to come in at 7.033 million for FY2016-17 and 6.756 million mt in FY2015-16, which ends this month.
A spokesman for Osaka Gas said the limited consumption growth underscores declining population in the Kansai area it serves and the planned deregulation of the retail gas market due in 2017.
Osaka Gas expects an average annual growth of 1% in its gas sales in the next five years. For FY2015-16, gas demand is expected to come in at 8.1 billion cubic meters.
To offset its slowing domestic gas sales, Osaka Gas is gearing up for overseas energy businesses including investments in upstream projects. It also plans to boost its electricity business.
Osaka Gas last month announced that it plans to jointly build with Idemitsu Kosan a 1.8-GW gas-fired power plant in Himeji, Hyogo prefecture. It aims to start operations in the early 2020s.
Osaka Gas already owns power plants with a total capacity of 1.84 GW in Japan and 1 GW overseas. It aims to double that to around 6 GW by the 2020s.
