Osaka Gas has no immediate need for more US LNG, its president says

By Yuka Obayashi

TOKYO, March 26 (Reuters) - Japan's Osaka Gas 9532.T has no immediate need to buy more liquefied natural gas from the United States, its president said on Wednesday, as the company already has supplies to last through to around the middle of the next decade.

U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing energy sales to Asian allies while threatening trade tariffs, reviving Alaska's stalled LNG ambitions.

Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Trump discussed the 20 million tons per year Alaska LNG project, which would transport gas via a $44 billion 1,300 km (800 mile) pipeline and ship it to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

"Even if we were suddenly asked to buy more LNG from the U.S., we do not have the capacity to do so immediately," Osaka Gas President Masataka Fujiwara told a news conference.

Fujiwara declined to comment on the Alaska LNG project specifically, citing a lack of public details. He also said he did not expect to meet any Alaska LNG officials during a scheduled visit to Japan this week.

The company already purchases the super-chilled fuel from Freeport LNG in Texas, he said, and that a diversified fuel procurement portfolio would remain a key part of its strategy.

Osaka Gas, Japan's second-biggest city gas provider, signed a 15-year sales and purchase agreement last month to buy LNG from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's (ADNOC) Ruwais project.