Tokyo Electric Power Co. more than tripled its crude oil consumption in July after increasing use of thermal power generation to compensate for the earthquake-triggered closure of the world's biggest nuclear power plant.
Tepco burned 171,057 kiloliters of oil last month, compared with 56,486 kl a year earlier, the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan said Wednesday. Its use of heavy fuel oil rose 59 percent and it burned 12 percent more coal and 14 percent more liquefied natural gas.
The magnitude-6.8 temblor that hit Niigata Prefecture on July 16 forced Tepco to shut its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, which is just 9 km from the epicenter. On July 31, the utility cut its full-year profit forecast by 79 percent, saying it will have to burn costlier oil and gas to make up the shortfall.
Tepco and nine other regional power producers in Japan consumed a total of 401,631 kl of crude oil in July, down 5.5 percent from the same month last year, while heavy fuel usage jumped 30 percent to 689,706 kl. Consumption of LNG and coal rose about 1 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.
The government has ordered the plant to stay closed until safety is assured. It will likely be shut for at least one year, Haruki Madarame, a professor who heads the trade ministry's investigation committee, said last week.