Reuters reported that Tokyo Electric Power Company has bought its highest ever monthly amount of liquefied natural gas in July 2008, as it burns more fossil fuels due to the extended shutdown of a nuclear power plant.
As per report, TEPCO purchased slightly more than 2 million tonnes of LNG in July 2008, up by 16.7% YoY, as it works to meet peak summer demand as higher temperatures and humidity lead to greater use of air conditioners.
It may be noted that TEPCO's Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant, which accounts for 13% of its power capacity, has been shut indefinitely since an earthquake in July 2007, prompting it to increase purchases of fossil fuels to work its thermal plants harder as well as buy electricity from other firms.
Following is a table of TEPCO's consumption for July 2008
| | July '08 | July '07 | Change |
| Fuel oil | 581,000 | 395,000 | 47.1% |
| Crude oil | 265,000 | 177,000 | 49.7% |
| LNG | 2,033,000 | 1,742,000 | 16.7% |
| Coal | 177,000 | 341,000 | -48.1% |
Volumes of crude and fuel oil are in kilolitres
LNG and coal in tonnes
Following is a table of TEPCO's purchases for July 2008
| | July '08 | July '07 | Change |
| Fuel oil | 580,000 | 403,000 | 43.9% |
| Crude oil | 299,000 | 160,000 | 86.9% |
| LNG | 1,751,000 | 1,631,000 | 7.4% |
| Coal | 381,000 | 308,000 | 23.7% |
Volumes of crude and fuel oil are in kilolitres
LNG and coal in tonnes
TEPCO said last month that it expects the plant shutdown to increase its fuel and electricity purchase costs by over JPY 700 billion this fiscal year. The boost in LNG demand was also due partly to a new ultra efficient, 500,000 kilowatt LNG fired unit that started operating in early June 2008 at TEPCO's Kawasaki thermal plant near Tokyo.
