報告書番号

Y10008

タイトル（和文）

天然ガス需給動向と電気事業者の燃料調達・上流進出戦略 －欧米の電気事業者のケーススタディー－

タイトル（英文）

Management strategies of electric power companies on natural gas procurement and upstream business - Case studies of European and the US electric power companies -

概要 （図表や脚注は「報告書全文」に掲載しております）

近年、エネルギー価格の高騰や、新興国の経済発展に伴うエネルギー需要の急増等、我が国のエネルギー・セキュリティーへの影響が懸念される話題が多い。大量の化石燃料を利用する電気事業者にとっても、安定的な燃料調達は重大な経営課題である。一方、上流権益の取得は安定的な燃料調達の一つの手段と考えられているが、近年、欧米の電気事業者がガスの上流事業に進出する事例が見られるようになった。そこで本稿では、近年の需給動向を確認した上で、欧米の電気事業者のガス上流進出戦略の裏にはどのような考え方があり、これが安定的な燃料調達のための手段として有効と考えられているのかについて明らかにする。また、安定的燃料調達と上流戦略に関して、欧米の電気事業者の事例を元に、我が国の電気事業者にも適用しうる戦略オプションを示す。

概要 （英文）

In recent years, we have been facing a number of events that could threaten energy security in Japan. Electric power companies, consuming a large amount of fossil fuels for power production, are kept under even more serious situation, which confirms that stable fuel procurement is one of the most important issues for them. In this situation, investment in gas upstream is regarded as one measure to contribute to stable fuel procurement. When we look at Europe and the US, electric power companies are increasingly involved in gas upstream business after deregulation of the utility industries. This report investigates the thoughts behind upstream strategy of selected electric power companies in European and the US through interview and literature research, and thereby clarifies the effectiveness of gas upstream involvement on stable fuel procurement. The main suggestions derived from these case studies are as follows: 1) Global LNG supply will be sufficient to current demand by increasing supply capacity, 2) One of the most important for stable fuel procurement is diversification of supply sources. Although upstream involvement can be one option of the diversification, its effectiveness might be limited in the current LNG supply situation, 3) Upstream involvement is effective to mitigate volatility of gas price, as long as companies can take risks on upstream business, 4) Upstream business is a profit-oriented business by nature, which is essentially outside from utility business. If companies plan to go into it, they should concentrate on profit gain apart from fuel procurement for the utility business, and also need new business mind and organization, and 5) Upstream is more synergistic business with gas than electricity, and thus electric power companies should take effective strategy to capture such synergy if they decide to get involved in upstream business.

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