Japanese city gas supplier Hokkaido Gas Co Ltd said on Friday its newly built 200,000-kilolitre No.2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) tank at its Ishikari LNG terminal would start operations by accepting the first delivery of gas from an LNG tanker on Saturday.

The LNG storage capacity at the terminal in northern Japan increased to 380,000 kl from 180,000 kl with the addition, which enables the fully-laden LNG tanker to be unloaded at the terminal, the company said in a statement. It previously had to unload gas at two ports due to lack of capacity.