Tokyo (Platts)--28Jun2011/635 am EDT/1035 GMT

Japan's Kyushu Electric said Tuesday it had secured an additional 250,000 kiloliters (1.57 million barrels) of oil equivalent of oil and LNG for the July-September period.

As a result, the Fukuoka-based power utility has secured a total 750,000 kl of its estimated additional 1 million kl demand for the July-September period.

Kyushu Electric's latest update on its additional fuels procurement comes as Japan is about to enter its summer power demand season, which normally spans July-September.

In addition, the company said it might need a further 450,000 kl of oil and LNG over July-September depending on summer weather and the length of its nuclear outage.

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Of its additional 450,000 kl oil and LNG requirements, Kyushu Electric has estimated that it would need 200,000 kl on the current weather outlook, which is forecast to be hotter-than-usual in this summer, it said.

Kyushu Electric has also estimated that it would need an additional 250,000 kl by the end of September if the southwestern Japan based utility is not allowed to restart its nuclear reactors, the company added.

As a result, Kyushu Electric now estimates a total of 1.45 million kl of additional oil and LNG requirements over July-September, up from an earlier estimate of 1 million kl.

Kyushu Electric has three nuclear reactors operating at present at a combined capacity of 2.629 GW, representing 50% of its total nuclear capacity of 5.258 GW across six units.

As Japan is about to enter its summer power demand season, Kyushu Electrics' surplus supply capacity above its estimated demand for the summer will be dropped to 3.5% if the Genkai and Sendai reactors remain shut until then, the company said. This is below usual levels of 8-10%.

It remains unclear when the utility will be allowed by local authorities to restart the 559 MW No. 2 and 1.18 GW No. 3 reactors at its Genkai nuclear power plant in the country's southwest. On May 10, it also began a scheduled two-month maintenance at its 890 MW No. 1 Sendai nuclear power plant in the southwest.

Sources earlier said it was unlikely Kyushu Electric will secure approvals from local authorities to restart the nuclear units in the near future. Japan has seen growing nuclear safety concerns as a result of the ongoing Fukushima nuclear crisis following the massive March 11 earthquake.

Prior to the March 11 earthquake, Kyushu Electric planned to consume 360,000 kl of crude and fuel oil and 2.4 million-2.5 million mt/year of LNG in the fiscal year ending March 2012.

Kyushu Electric has a mixed portfolio of power generation capacity, including 5.26 GW of nuclear power, 5.36 GW of oil- and oil products-fired power, 4.49 GW of gas-fired power and 4.18 GW of coal-fired power.

--Takeo Kumagai, takeo_kumagai@platts.com