Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., or Japex, on Friday announced a plan to build a liquefied natural gas receiving terminal at Soma port in Fukushima Prefecture by 2018.

Japex also plans to lay a 40-km pipeline between the terminal and Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, to provide gas to both prefectures.

The terminal will be linked to the pipeline network that supplies Miyagi, Fukushima, Yamagata and Niigata from a gas terminal and gas fields in Niigata on the Sea of Japan coast.

The link will allow these prefectures to receive gas if facilities on either coastline are compromised by a natural disaster.