Osaka Gas shares fall after warning of expense related to Freeport LNG

TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares in Osaka Gas fell more than 2% on Tuesday after the Japanese city's gas supplier warned it may book a large expense this business year related to Freeport liquefied natural gas (LNG), a big U.S. LNG export facility hit by a fire in June.

By mid-afternoon in Tokyo trading, shares of the company had regained some lost ground, but were still down 2.1%, compared with a 1.0% gain in the benchmark Nikkei 225 index.

The June 8 blast and fire had knocked out Freeport LNG's 15 million tonnes per year (mtpa) Quintana plant, exacerbating global LNG shortages amid reduced gas flows from Russia, and weighed heavily on domestic U.S. natural gas prices.

Osaka Gas, which buys 2.32 million tonnes of LNG from Freeport a year under a long-term contract, said on Monday it may book the large expense, including the cost for alternative procurement during the Freeport's shutdown period and change of the contract.

While Osaka Gas did not specify the amount of expenses it may book, the Nikkei business daily reported the number to be more than 33 billion yen ($242 million) for the current year.

($1 = 136.2400 yen)

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; editing by Uttaresh.V)