(EnergyAsia, July 11 2012, Wednesday) — Japan’s Kansai Electric Power Company (Kansai Electric) has signed an agreement with Australia Pacific LNG Pty Limited for the annual purchase of one million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 20 years starting 2016.

The sale and purchase agreement follows last November’s heads of agreement between the two companies last November for LNG supply from an export terminal now under construction on Curtis Island in Australia’s Queensland state.

Australia Pacific LNG, an incorporated joint venture between Origin Energy, ConocoPhillips and Sinopec, sanctioned the project’s first LNG train last July 2011 and expects production to begin in 2015.

The company is developing its substantial coal seam gas resources in the Surat and Bowen Basins, a transmission pipeline, and a multi-train LNG terminal on Curtis Island, near Gladstone.

Australia Pacific LNG chairman Grant King, who is also Origin Energy’s managing director, Grant King, said:

“This binding long-term supply agreement with Kansai Electric indicates the strength of demand for LNG from Asia and marks another significant milestone in the Australia Pacific LNG project’s progress towards a two train development.”

ConocoPhillips’ executive vice president for exploration and production, Matthew Fox, said:

“We look forward to having a long-term relationship with Kansai Electric, an experienced LNG buyer in the mature Japanese market.”