According to a summary provided by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Japanese government aims to import at least 840,000 tons of liquefied natural gas for buffering every year under the plan.
According to the report, this effort reflects Tokyo’s concern about possible future supply cuts of liquefied natural gas. After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukraine conflict, Russia stopped most of the pipeline gas supply, which led to the price of natural gas in Europe to soar to an all-time high.
According to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, this policy requires the import of about 70,000 tons of liquefied natural gas for buffering every month.
The policy will be initially implemented until February 2024, and the government’s ultimate goal is to import at least 12 batches of liquefied natural gas of the same size for the buffer strategy every year.
According to the report, Japan imported 74 million tons of liquefied natural gas in 2021, so the buffer in the first few years will account for only a small part of the total demand.
Almost all of Japan’s oil, gas and coal rely on imports, which makes it extremely vulnerable to overseas supply disruptions.
