TEPCO's oil use sinks in Oct as nuclear use rises

TOKYO, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power Co's (9501.T)
(TEPCO) consumption of crude and fuel oil plunged in October from
a year earlier, as a higher nuclear plant utilisation rate and
soft power demand curb burning of fossil fuels.

TEPCO, Asia's largest utility, said on Tuesday that its use
of crude oil last month fell by almost half from a year earlier,
while its consumption of fuel oil dropped by nearly 43 percent.

For details on consumption and purchases, see table below.

The utilisation rate at TEPCO's nuclear power plants averaged
50.7 percent in October, Japan's trade ministry said last week,
up 5.3 percentage points from a year earlier. [ID:nT126024]

Earlier this year, the power firm restarted two of the seven
reactors at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant, the world's
largest, after it was forced to shut the complex over two years
ago following a major earthquake in northern Japan.

Also limiting the need for thermal power fuels, Japan's
overall power generation probably fell 4.8 percent in October
from a year ago, Reuters projections based on industry data
showed last week. [ID:nT114489]

The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan is set to
release its statistics for October on Wednesday.

Following is a table of TEPCO's consumption and purchases
for October in 2009 and 2008. Volumes of crude and fuel oil are
in kilolitres; LNG and coal in tonnes.

CONSUMPTION PURCHASES

Oct 09 Oct 08 % chg Oct 09 Oct 08 % chg
Fuel oil 238,000 416,000 -42.8 185,000 357,000 -48.2
Crude oil 82,000 163,000 -49.7 140,000 239,000 -41.4
LNG 1,484,000 1,529,000 -2.9 1,529,000 1,651,000 -7.4
Coal 319,000 105,000 +203.8 372,000 145,000 +156.6
(Reporting by James Topham; Editing by Chris Gallagher)