Japanese gas company Osaka Gas aims to start selling LNG outside Japan as of 2018 to diversify its sales in a context of harsh competition in Japan.
Osaka Gas is seeking to reach an agreement with E.ON's energy trading and conventional power generation subsidiary Uniper, offering to deliver up to 0.8 Mt/year of LNG to Europe over a 20-year period. Osaka Gas would supply LNG from the Freeport LNG export terminal in Texas (United States), as the company signed a 20-year tolling agreement to secure 2.3 Mt/year of LNG at the project as of 2018.
New import volumes would largely exceed the needs of Osaka Gas' Japanese customers and the group plans to resell LNG to other companies (flexible contract without destination clause). Osaka Gas also has stakes in two LNG projects in Australia (1.25% in the 20.6 Mt/year Gorgon LNG project and 1.2% in the 8.9 Mt/year Ichthys LNG project), which will grant the company additional volumes to sell on the global LNG market.