TOKYO :Japan’s biggest power generator, JERA, and Australia’s Woodside Energy have signed a deal for Woodside to supply JERA with liquefied natural gas only during the winter months, the companies said on Friday.
The Heads of Agreement was signed at the LNG Producer-Consumer Conference, co-hosted by Japan’s industry ministry and the International Energy Agency in Tokyo.
Under the deal, Woodside will supply about 200,000 metric tons of LNG annually during the December to February period, starting in fiscal year 2027, a JERA spokesperson said, adding that the deal is for five years.
The agreement is unusual in that it covers only three months of the year instead of the whole year, which a regular term contract would cover, Yuya Hasegawa, a director at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said at a press conference.
He also said the deal would provide flexibility, allowing JERA not to take supplies when there is no need due to warmer-than-usual winter conditions.
Hasegawa said the ministry hoped Japanese companies would consider similar deals with other suppliers.
“If it spreads to other sources, it may lead to a reinforcing of Japan’s stable procurement,” he said.
JERA, jointly owned by Tokyo Electric Power and Chubu Electric Power, is Japan’s largest LNG buyer.
