Japan is reportedly considering the option of diverting some of its
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) supplies to Europe if the security situation in
Ukraine and Russia continues to deteriorate.
Quoted from Kyodo, government sources said on Thursday (3/2) that Japan is
likely to coordinate with other countries to help Europe which relies
heavily on natural gas.
Russia is threatened by US sanctions if they do attack Ukraine. Through
these sanctions, Russia will not be able to export its natural gas to the
Blue Continent.
The sanctions will clearly harm Russia from an economic point of view. On
the other hand, many European countries will also find it difficult because
their natural gas supply will be very limited.
To circumvent this, US President Joe Biden has reportedly spoken with
officials of major natural gas importers in Asia including Japan and South
Korea about diverting gas supplies to Europe.
This possibility has also been confirmed by the Japanese Minister of
Economy, Trade and Industry Koichi Hagiuda. He ensured that Japan would
continue to look for ways to contribute to the world.
"We wanted to think about how we could contribute to the international
community," said Hagiuda, as quoted by Kyodo.
Meanwhile, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, said at a press
conference Wednesday that Japan has been in intense communication with the
US and European countries to smooth out plans for natural gas exports.
Unfortunately, there has also been concern from within the country that
natural gas reserves for Japan will be limited. Moreover, Japan had
experienced a run out of LNG reserves last year.
LNG is the main fuel for thermal power generation in Japan. Utilization will
be very high when winter arrives. When a cold wave hit Japan from December
2020 to January 2021, the government even asked its citizens to save on gas
because reserves were running low.
Last October, the Ministry of Industry finally decided to continue closely
monitoring domestic liquid natural reserves.
