2022-03-31 13:50:00
RUSSIAN LNG FOR JAPAN
REUTERS - March 31 - Japan will not abandon its stake in the Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Russia as it is essential to energy security, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday, his clearest comments yet on Tokyo's plans for the development.
The Ukraine crisis has put Japan's involvement in the Sakhalin-2 project and similar ones in Russia in sharp focus since Western oil majors have said they would pull out in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia calls its actions there a "special military operation."
While resource poor Japan has been ramping up sanctions against Russia, Tokyo has repeatedly said that Russian LNG is essential to energy security.
"Japan has a stake in Sakhalin 2, which is contributing to securing long-term, stable and low-priced supply of LNG. It is an extremely important project for Japan's energy security," Kishida told parliament.
"It is not our policy to withdraw," Kishida said, adding his government would continue seeking ways to reduce Japan's dependence on Russian energy sources.
Japanese leading trading houses Mitsui & Co (8031.T) and Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T) own stakes of 12.5% and 10% respectively in the Sakhalin 2 project, from which Shell (SHEL.L) has announced plans to exit.
Russia represents 4% of Japan's crude oil imports and 9% of LNG imports, making Moscow a vital energy supplier for Japan, particularly after fuel meltdowns at the Fukushima power plant in 2011 led to sharply lower usage of nuclear power reactors.
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Earlier:
2022, March, 28, 11:40:00
JAPAN'S, RUSSIAN OIL & GAS PLAN
Japan's Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development (SODECO) owns a 30% stake in the Sakhalin-1 project from which Exxon has said it would exit. Japex owns 15.285% in SODECO.
2022, March, 24, 13:20:00
RUSSIAN GAS IN ROUBLES
Gas prices surged 10%, with ICE Brent futures rising to $1,359/1,000 cu m, up from $1,240/1,000 cu m following Putin's remarks
2022, March, 22, 12:45:00
RUSSIA BYPASSES SANCTIONS
"If oil is sold at a discount, then [consumers] will be happy to buy it. We will earn less, but we will be able to place oil," Novak said.
2022, March, 18, 11:20:00
JAPAN NUCLEAR: NO PROBLEM
A powerful earthquake off the eastern coast of Japan did not cause any issues of safety concern at the three nuclear power plants in the area, including the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, the country’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today.
2022, March, 15, 15:20:00
RUSSIA IS A KEY
In 2021, Russia was the largest natural gas-exporting country in the world, the second-largest crude oil and condensates-exporting country after Saudi Arabia, and the third-largest coal-exporting country behind Indonesia and Australia.
2022, March, 15, 14:40:00
JAPAN'S LNG INVESTMENT
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.
2022, January, 17, 11:25:00
JAPAN GAS PRODUCTION
Japan has found "considerable gas shows" in a series of the country's funded drilling operations conducted by INPEX until the fiscal year 2019-20 (April-March), marking the first domestic project, which enters an exploration phase with the support of the government's geological structure surveys,
