Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Company used around 450,000 kiloliters, or 91,000 b/d, of crude and fuel oil for power generation in October, up 50% from the 300,000 kl it had planned to consume earlier, a source close to the matter said Tuesday.
Tepco faced higher-than-expected power demand in October because of warmer weather during the first 10 days of the month and this pushed up its oil consumption, the source said.
The utility secured additional cargoes from local suppliers via coastal vessels and from its own stocks, the source added.
Of Tepco's total consumption in October, 100,000 kl was crude oil and 350,000 kl fuel oil, the source said.
In November, Tepco plans to use 400,000 kl of crude and fuel oil, up 33% from October's planned consumption of 300,000 kl but down 11% from the actual consumption of 450,000 kl, the source said.
Last year, Tepco used 706,000 kl of crude and fuel oil in October and 689,000 kl in November, according to company data.
Tepco's oil demand for power generation fell this year following successful test runs in April at two coal-fired plants at Hitachinaka and Hirono with a combined 1.6 GW of capacity.
Another 1 GW of output was added following the complete restart of Tohoku Electric's earthquake-hit 2 GW Haramachi coal-fired power plant in the northeast, where Tepco has rights to half of the total production in fiscal 2013-2014 (April-March).
In November, Tepco plans to buy up to 120,000 mt of LPG for power generation in November, double the volume bought in October, the source said.
Tepco's actual LPG purchases in October are likely to be 60,000 mt, flat from September and in line with its earlier plans, the source said.
November will be the fifth straight month of LPG purchase.
Tepco has had to increase power generation using fossil fuels such as coal, crude, fuel oil and LNG following the 2011 earthquake that caused an automatic shutdown of its Fukushima-1 (Daiichi) and Fukushima-2 (Daini) nuclear power plants, which had a combined capacity of 9 GW.
Tepco lost the last of its nuclear output March 26, 2012, when it shut the 1.356 GW No. 6 nuclear reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant for scheduled maintenance. It remains unclear when Tepco will be allowed to restart any of its nuclear reactors.
