TOKYO, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd, Japan's No. 2 oil refiner, more than doubled its annual profit forecast as soaring crude prices will bring a hefty appraisal gain on its inventories and higher energy markets will boost earnings from its oil and coal assets.

The company said it would use some of the profit to help its transition away from fossil fuels to cleaner energy.

It lifted its net profit estimate for the year to March 31 to 220 billion yen ($1.94 billion) from its May outlook of 85 billion yen, beating a forecast of 143 billion yen based on the mean estimate from 10 analysts compiled by Refinitiv.

"On top of improved earnings at our refinery in Vietnam, the overseas refined product market, particularly in Singapore, has recovered from the pandemic-induced slump, which led to a recovery in our energy business profit," Shunichi Kito, Idemitsu' president, told a news conference.

Net profit for April-September came to 142.7 billion yen, against a loss of 32.1 billion yen a year earlier.

"Still, there is no time for complacency as 90% of our profit comes from fossil fuels. We will allocate our cash to innovations to help our energy transition," he said.

The company has said it aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 through energy and material transition, including a plan to slash its thermal coal output by making no investment in new mines.

The Japanese government has warned that electricity supplies this winter may be at their tightest in a decade.

Idemitsu has received orders of fuel oil, used for power generation, from local electric utilities for this winter to ensure adequate power supply during the peak demand season.

Last winter freezing conditions hit Japan for weeks, sending local electricity prices to a record high.

With the northern winter around the corner, higher prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG), along with coal, are pushing utilities around the world to switch to oil from gas.

"We have received requests from several utilities for double the amount of fuel oil that we have shipped in January and February this year," Kito said.

The head of the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ) said last month that utilities have asked refiners for extra fuel oil supplies as they try to switch from expensive LNG. ($1 = 113.3500 yen) (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Susan Fenton)