Reuters AlertNet - ANALYSIS-Japan nuclear power plant on long road to recovery

TOKYO, Jan 16 (Reuters) - The world's biggest nuclear power plant, shut down following an earthquake in Japan six months ago, will probably remain closed far longer than expected, hurting profits and increasing oil demand for operator TEPCO.

Tokyo Electric Power Co <9501.T>, Asia's biggest utility, is unlikely to get clearance to reopen its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in northwest Japan before the second quarter of 2009, analysts and market sources now say, long past the mid-2008 target first mooted in the aftermath of the July 16 quake.