UAE begins gas supplies to Japan under new deal

UAE begins gas supplies to Japan under new deal

ABU DHABI (AFP): The biggest gas tanker in the world has
sailed from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Japan to deliver
the first shipment of liquefied gas under a 25-year contract,
officials said on Saturday.

Al-Khazna is among four tankers ordered by the UAE from Japan
at a cost of US$600 million to cope with the sharp increase in
supplies from the Das liquefaction plant following the completion
of a major expansion project.

Another tanker, al-Shahama, will be received in October. Four
other tankers are being built in Finland to replace the aging
fleet of the Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company (ADGAS), which
runs the Das facility.

ADGAS officials said al-Khazna was the biggest gas tanker in
the world, with a capacity of around 137,000 tons. It sailed back
to Japan last week with a shipment for the Tokyo Electric Power
Company (TEPCO), which signed a long-term contract with ADGAS in
1990.

"It is a landmark event in ADGAS's expansion plans as it
ushers in a sharp increase in our exports," ADGAS general manager
Peter Kerr said in a speech at Das, off Abu Dhabi, quoted by the
official UAE news agency Wam.