Tokyo Gas Co., the nation's second-biggest buyer of liquefied natural gas, is in talks with European companies to swap cargoes it owns from the U.S. with those in Asia to reduce shipping times and costs.

The utility is offering cargoes from the Cove Point project on the U.S. East Coast, which is expected to start up late next year and from which it's contracted to buy 1.4 million tons a year, Executive Officer Kentaro Kimoto said. Kimoto declined to identify the European companies Tokyo Gas is in talks with and the volume it would resell.

"It takes a lot of days to bring LNG to our terminals in Japan from the U.S.," Kimoto said in an interview in Tokyo on Wednesday. "We can send cargoes to Europe and in return get the fuel in swap deals with European players who have a position in Asia."