‘Japan won’t divest from Russian energy assets’
PODCAST: With special guests Yuriy Humber and Mayumi Watanabe, Japan NRG
“The reality is that if Japan suddenly quits its Russian LNG purchases, Japan would have to compete for supplies in the spot market. Japan is buying LNG on long-term contracts probably at around $9 to $10 per MMBtu. Yesterday we saw the Asian LNG spot contract JKM approach $85 per MMBtu — an absolutely astonishing amount. If you would like decarbonisation to happen, there are a lot of hard choices to make.”
Listen again to Yuriy Humber and Mayumi Watanabe of Japan NRG discussing how procurement of fuels in import-dependent Japan — the world’s fifth largest energy-consuming nation — colours the view from Tokyo towards Russia’s military assault on Ukraine.
Yuriy and Mayumi (who authored this excellent piece on Japan’s energy transition) spoke at length about the difficult energy choices facing Tokyo. Japan is grappling with many of the same trade-offs as other advanced economies committed to ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050, but is taking arguably a more pragmatic approach.
This means adapting…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Energy Flux to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.