The Japanese fuel purchasing company JERA and the trading arm of the French energy group EDF have agreed to expand their existing cooperation venture and have signed a non-binding agreement to combine EDF Trading's LNG business into JERA’s standing coal and freight venture with EDF Trading.
JERA is the largest LNG importer in the world, with around 35 Mt/year of LNG intake, while EDF currently trades 3 to 5 Mt/year of LNG. Once completed in the second half of 2018, the deal would allow JERA to have access to 15 European LNG terminals and to six European gas hubs in the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain. JERA would have more flexibility to adjust to volatile Japanese LNG demand in the mid- to long-term, amid the uncertainties over the restart of nuclear plants in the country.
Established in 2015, JERA is a fuel purchasing equal joint venture of two major Japanese power companies, TEPCO Fuel & Power Incorporated and Chubu Electric Power Company. In April 2017, JERA acquired a 67% stake in EDF Trading's coal and freight business, which handles around 100 Mt/year of coal.
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