Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) and BP Singapore Pte. (BPS), which is an affiliate of BP Group, have struck a liquefied natural gas (LNG) sale and purchase agreement for Tepco to buy up to 1.2 million tons of LNG per year over 17 years from BPS starting in April 2017. The LNG is to come from “multiple sources” held by BP Group, making the deal a “portfolio contract,” the first long-term agreement of its kind for Tepco, the Japanese utility company said. The agreement includes supply of lean LNG and also indexes prices to the Henry Hub. Tepco and other Asian LNG consumers have sought LNG supplies through contracts indexed to more favorable North American prices. Tepco said it has reviewed multiple supply sources, including those of U.S. origin, in its effort to buy about 10 million tons of lean LNG annually. With the BPS agreement, a total of 2 million tons of lean LNG per year will have been secured, Tepco said.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has changed the water requirements for a desert-based natural gas-fired power plant to respond to the state’s worsening drought. The CEC altered some of the operating provisions approved in 2000 for the 830 MW High Desert generation plant, about a 100 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles near Victorville, CA (see Daily GPI, May 9, 2000). The action approved a water supply amendment to the plant’s original authorization. The CEC said it ordered the plant owners “to secure a temporary backup of limited regional groundwater for addressing the drought impacts on its primary supply from the California State Water Project.” The owner must also file a plan for what the CEC called a drought-proof, sustainable water supply by Nov. 1, 2015.

The Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (Tipro), a trade association representing the interests of more than 2,800 independent oil and natural gas producers and royalty owners throughout Texas, will visit the NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square Monday (Sept. 15). Tipro President Ed Longanecker and Raymond Welder, CEO of Welder Exploration and Production Inc. will ring the closing bell that day.