International: Tangguh Foja LNG carrier arrives in Japan

By Romel S. Gurky

Japan?s oil and gas firm Inpex Corporation celebrated on Tuesday the arrival of the first LNG carrier ?Tangguh Foja? (capacity 154,800m3) at Naoetsu LNG Terminal, located in Joetsu City (at its Naoetsu Port Area), Niigata Prefecture, Japan.

Inpex said in a statement received Wednesday it has been engaged in construction of Naoetsu LNG Terminal since 2009, and commissioning has commenced this month for its full-scale commercial operation planned in January 2014.

The LNG carrier ?Tangguh Foja? arrived at Naoetsu LNG Terminal in accordance with the LNG Sales and Purchase Agreement which INPEX and Chubu Electric Power Company, Inc. signed on 31 July this year. The LNG carrier berthed at Naoetsu LNG Terminal Tuesday and it started off-loading of the LNG to an LNG tank in the terminal.

INPEX will continue to proceed with the commissioning work without any accident taking place towards the commercial operation scheduled early next year, it said.

After the commercial operation startup, Inpex?s global gas supply chain will be established where Inpex supplies the domestic gas market with the overseas sourced gas Inpex develops and produces in addition to the gas produced in the Minami-Nagaoka Gas Field in Niigata Prefecture, Japan.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak