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“We have been in negotiations with several projects,” Toshiaki Koizumi, the general manager of Tokyo Electric’s fuel department, said at a briefing in Tokyo.

“We want to procure LNG from the United States and Canada where prices are linked to Henry Hub. The talks have made progress, but I cannot say when they will be finalised,” Koizumi said, referring to the main U.S. gas distribution centre.

Any agreement to buy U.S. shale gas will be subject to approval from Washington, which is reviewing whether to allow export licenses for some buyers of the fuel.

Tokyo has been negotiating with Washington since last year to allow more shale gas projects to export LNG to Japan, which hopes to receive LNG shipped via the Panama Canal as early as in 2015.

Chubu Electric Power Co, Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas Co and Sumitomo Corp have already announced deals to buy U.S. shale gas.

Tokyo Electric is interested in taking LNG offtake but is not looking to buy a stake in upstream shale gas and liquefaction projects due to a lack of funds, Koizumi added.

Currently almost all of Japan’s LNG import prices are linked to oil prices, but many Japanese firms are hoping to shift benchmark U.S. gas prices at Henry Hub, to cut down on import costs.

Japan has rapidly increased LNG purchases since Fukushima, with imports growing 17.9 percent to a record 83.2 million tonnes in the fiscal year ended March 31.

Japan hopes that if the U.S. projects receive formal U.S. government approval as early as 2015, their shipments to Japan are likely to be priced at less than $10/mmBtu.