Japan's largest city gas utility, Tokyo Gas, sold 1.111 billion cubic meters of gas in May, up 7% year on year but down 8.4% from April as demand eased after winter, the company said Friday.
Sales to the main industrial sector rose 18.1% year on year to 474.978 million cu m in May following the startup of new trunk pipelines and increased demand for power generation, the company said.
Sales to the residential sector totaled 289.015 million cu m, up 1% year on year, while to the business sector slipped 1.1% to 181.36 million cu m.
The company's supply of wholesale gas in May edged down 0.2% year on year to 165.741 million cu m.
Temperatures in Tokyo averaged 19.8 degrees Celsius in May, 0.2 degrees Celsius warmer than in May 2012 and 4.6 degrees Celsius warmer than in April, data from Japan's Meteorological agency showed.
Japan's peak winter demand for city gas typically spans December-March.
