Gas industry of those days in Japan

(The latter part of Showa) 1966-1988

Beginning of the natural gas age
The material of city gas began with coal. And it changed to oil. On the other hand, natural gas consists primarily of methane, no pollution and high-calorie energy. This is why natural gas attracted the attention of people as an ideal material of city gas which was replaced by oil. Natural gas had already been used since many years ago in overseas. But natural gas began to be used in 1969.
On November 4, 1969, Paula-Alaska, which was first LNG tanker, showed up in the dock of Negishi factory of Tokyo gas in Yokohama. That was 10:40 AM and the beginning of the natural gas age.
In 1972, Osaka Gas Company introduced natural gas. And Toho Gas Company introduced natural gas in 1977.

Oil shock and gas industry
In 1973, Yom Kippur War began. This led Oil Company in Middle East to jack up the listed crude oil prices to put pressure upon America and Japan which were pro-Israel. This incident was the first oil shock.
The dramatic increase of oil prices led gas industry to raise cost. At the same time, each gas company was late for rate revision. And these companies faced managerial serious crisis.
In 1973, 26 gas companies applied for a permit to rate revision. And in 1974, 254 gas companies applied for a permit to rate revision. This fact tells us how these gas companies had a hard time when oil prices skyrocketed.

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