Following a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels, President Joe Biden announced a new task force between the US and EU with a "joint game plan" to quickly reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas

Japan also intends to work on renewables and nuclear power in a bid to further diversify its energy sources, as part of its response to the G7 joint statement, which calls for reducing Russian energy dependency in phases, Hagiuda said.

Europe's top economy has been under pressure from other Western nations to become less dependent on Russian gas, but its plans to phase out coal-fired power plants by 2030 and to shut its nuclear power plants by end-2022 have left it with few options.

In 2021, a large share of Europe’s supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) originated in the United States, Qatar, and Russia.

The country imported 3.862 million mt of LNG in December, down 9.3% from 4.257 million mt a year earlier, customs data showed Jan. 17.

The average LNG price for February delivery into Northeast Asia rose to $48.3 per metric million British thermal units (mmBtu), up $5, or 11.5% from the previous week

China’s LNG imports have grown steadily every year since 2006 (when China began importing LNG), except in 2015. In 2017, China became the world’s second-largest LNG importer, surpassing South Korea.

It is unusual for European LNG prices to surpass spot LNG prices in Asia, which relies on LNG imports much more than Europe, and especially in peak winter when demand from Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan is at its highest, supporting the typical Asian premium.

The Dec. 12 LNG stocks were well above 1.42 million mt held at the end of December last year, as well as the four-year average of 1.71 million mt at the end of that month, according to METI data.

In 2018, China became the world's 2nd largest LNG importer in the world behind Japan. LNG imports amounted to 90.5 bcm in 2020 (+12%). Australia is the largest LNG supplier (44%), followed by Qatar (12%) and Malaysia (9%).