India and Japan should co-operate on long term contracts for LNG with a defined cost of energy which would provide a stabilizing factor for the renewable energy thrust that India is currently giving, Indian minister for power, coal, new & renewable energy and mines, Piyush Goyal said January 11 on the side-lines of the seventh India-Japan Energy Forum in New Delhi.

Japanese refiners have received notices of crude supply cuts from "some producers" for January loading, following OPEC's November 30 decision to cut production.

Novatek is planning a new large-scale project known as Arctic LNG 2, which targets annual production of 12 million to 16 million tons of LNG, with operations aimed to start by 2025. Mikhelson expressed a desire to see Japan be a cooperative partner at every step of the plan, from gas production to liquefaction plant construction and management, all the way to sales. It was also made clear that should Japanese enterprises cooperate, the country could expect a portion of the output.

Japan sees the current low oil price environment creating "a significant chance for acquiring [upstream] stakes and assets," as well as the need to facilitate upstream investments amid slowing investments globally, Yuki Sadamitsu, director of the oil and gas division at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in an interview with S&P Global Platts last month.

Japan, South Korea, and China are the three largest importers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the world, accounting for more than half of global LNG imports in 2015. Combined LNG imports in these countries averaged 18.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2015, a 5% (0.9 Bcf/d) decline from 2014 levels and the first annual decline in these countries' combined LNG imports since the global economic downturn in 2009.

Saudi Arabia has traditionally accounted for most of the crude imports by Asia, the world's biggest oil-consuming region. But recently OPEC's top producer has lost ground in a number of major markets including Russia and China, and faces a further threat from Iran, which is ramping up exports after the removal of Western sanctions.

Five Asian countries (Japan, South Korea, China, India, and Taiwan) accounted for 68% of global LNG imports in 2015. In the first six months of 2016, in total, these five countries only increased their LNG import volumes by 1% (0.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d)), compared to the same period last year. However, higher imports in China and India more than offset declines in LNG consumption in the established markets of Japan and South Korea.

Demand for gas in expanding rapidly in Southeast Asia and Vietnam is no exception. LNG is in demand as an energy source for industrial parks around Ho Chi Minh City in the country's south. There are plans to build LNG facilities, including at the port of Thi Vai near the city.

Japan's crude imports from Iran recovered to pre-sanction levels in May, importing 307,691 b/d, up 61.2% year on year and up from 19,161 b/d in April, according to preliminary data released June 30 by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

“Now is our chance, and we have a window of three or four years to act,” before the balance of supply and demand might change, said Ken Koyama, a managing director and senior economist at Japan’s Institute of Energy Economics, which advises the Japanese government on energy policy.