Page 5 - AsiaElec Week 39 2022

AsiaElec POLICY AsiaElec

Japan looks inward to counter

rising gas prices

JAPAN WITH global LNG prices at rarely seen highs, (METI) in Tokyo has outlined new plans to
Japanese oil and gas exploration giant Inpex increase a combination of domestic develop-
Corporation will this autumn conduct a feasi- ments in oil and gas production alongside inter-
bility study into a new domestic gas field. ests presently held outside Japan by Japanese
If eventually brought to fruition, it will be the agencies, from the current 35% of daily needs to
Tokyo-based firm’s first domestic Japanese gas more than 60% by 2040.
field to open in 16 years. As a naturally less polluting form of energy,
Exploratory moves are currently scheduled to natural gas exploration and household use is
begin in November in a process that is being seen being promoted across much of Japan as a tem-
both as a way to alleviate future dependency on porary measure to help cut back on carbon emis-
increasing LNG prices as dictated by the inter- sions as Tokyo works towards its mid-century
national markets in the short term, and also as a net-zero goals.
way to bring about greater national energy secu- To this end, a survey of the site will be in oper-
rity over the long term. ation until mid-2023 at the earliest, with Inpex
Prices of LNG in Japan have roughly doubled aiming to initiate production on the site by some
year on year, with spot LNG cargoes in the East time in 2026, should underground reserves be
Asian region commanding higher still prices. deemed adequate.
As in Europe, this has seen domestic gas No new facilities are currently planned to
prices increase at rates rarely seen in homes and process the extracted gas, with use of existing
businesses across the country. processing plants nearby currently deemed the
As such, the new and previously unknown most cost-efficient method of treating the gas,
natural gas reserves that have already been although a potential new pipeline could be built
located and verified in an area not far from an once annual yields at the site are confirmed.
existing gas field at Minami Nagaoka in rural With Inpex looking to consolidate its domes-
Niigata Prefecture, around 250 km north-west tic market, a number of other firms across Japan
of Tokyo, are just waiting to be tapped according are also working to add new fields to their gas
to sources. production portfolios.
The original Minami Nagaoka gas field has Most notably, over the summer, Japan Petro-
been in operation since the early 1980s after leum Exploration (Japex) started to drill at a new
first being discovered in the late 70s, and still Katakai gas field, like the Inpex site at Minami
accounts for around 40% of all gas produced in Nagaoka, also in Niigata Prefecture.
Japan. A firm with a long history in the prefecture,
Figures released earlier in the year show that Japex made its first discoveries of gas in the area
the field yielded 1.1bn cubic metres across fiscal in the early 1980s, with gas extraction starting in
2021. 1990 at its Iwata-oki field. Over two decades later
As a nation, however, Japan as a resource- the field is still producing gas.
poor nation does still rely heavily on foreign An existing gas field at Katakai, 100% owned
imports for the bulk of its gas. This may soon by JPE, already provides 18% of Japan’s total daily
change, though. output and the addition of the new Japex site,
A 2021 initiative by the central government’s understood to start production sometime late in
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry 2023, will push this number higher still.™

Week 39 28•September•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P5