Page 15 - GLNG Week 28 2022

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Japan considers steps to

conserve gas supplies

POLICY JAPAN is considering steps to conserve natural This week the Japanese Ministry of Econ-
gas supplies amid fears of a potential disruption. omy, Trade and Industry (METI) called for a
This week it emerged that Tokyo may ask house- discussion on creating a framework that would
holds and businesses to cut back on gas usage allow the government to ask households and
when supply is tight. businesses to conserve gas when necessary.
This comes after Moscow ordered the trans- According to a document released on July 11,
fer of ownership in the Sakhalin-2 oil and LNG the government believes that despite long-term
project to a newly established Russian company LNG contracts helping Japan to secure stable
and warned Japanese firms Mitsui & Co. and supply, rising competition means conservation
Mitsubishi, which own stakes in the project, that measures will be necessary if energy procure-
they could lose their access to it. ment is disrupted.
Mitsui holds a 12.5% stake in Sakhalin-2, The document said the government would
while Mitsubishi owns 10%. Tokyo has previ- first ask households and businesses to cut back
ously said that Japanese companies would not on gas usage to the best of their abilities. If this
give up their stakes in the project given the coun- proves insufficient to avoid supply shortages,
try’s high level of dependence on energy imports then stricter targets could be brought in.
and worries over whose hands those stakes could Tokyo is already asking Japan’s population to
end up in. However, the Group of Seven (G7) play a part in power conservation, as electricity
countries – which include Japan – agreed at the supply is also expected to be tight over the com-
end of June to explore ways of capping prices for ing months.™
Russian oil, and Moscow is pushing back, includ-
ing by threatening to cut off Japanese access to
Russian oil and gas.

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