Japan's JERA has no immediate LNG shortage, in talks for extra supply, exec says

TOKYO, March 14 (Reuters) - JERA, Japan's top power generator, faces no immediate shortage of liquefied natural gas despite the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran but is in talks with long-term suppliers about potential additional supply, a senior executive said on Saturday.

Japan's largest LNG buyer handles about 35 million metric tons of the super-chilled fuel annually, of which around 27 million tons are used domestically, with about 5% of its shipments passing through the Strait of Hormuz, said Global CEO Yukio Kani.

Iran has disrupted shipping in the strait, a conduit for 20% of the world's fossil energy supplies, during the two-week-old war.

"We don't have any immediate LNG shortage," he said, but the company's team is discussing potential additional procurement with global suppliers with which JERA has long-term contracts, Kani told reporters on the sidelines of the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum in Tokyo.

He warned the Iran crisis may not end quickly.

If the crisis deepens with the war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz dragging on, it could become necessary to work with the Japanese government to consider measures such as asking consumers to conserve energy and restarting dormant power stations, including coal-fired plants.