Nippon Steel Corp. said Monday it has received an order from Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. (JAPEX) to build Japan's first liquefied natural gas plant, in Hokkaido.
Currently, all LNG used in Japan is imported.
The plant, which will manufacture and store LNG, will be set up in the city of Tomakomai at a cost of several billion yen, a Nippon Steel spokesman said. The plant will use natural gas produced in gas fields in Yufutsu, Tomakomai, to make 150 tons of LNG a day.
JAPEX will begin supplying the LNG to Asahikawa Gas, a gas company in the city of Asahikawa, Hokkaido, in September 2003.
Nippon Steel has been commissioned to set up the LNG plant, from procurement of materials to teaching the operators how to run it. It will make the basic design for the facility this year to begin construction next January.
Nippon Steel plans to increase its LNG-related projects in the future and aims for 40 billion yen in annual sales in the next two to three years, the spokesman said.