Russia, keen to build up sales of natural gas to offset losses in Europe, has suggested that Japan buys more, and possibly take new equity stakes in liquefied natural gas projects, helping it meet an energy deficit caused by its Fukushima disaster and nuclear shutdown.
Russia, keen to build up sales of natural gas to offset losses in
Europe, has suggested that Japan buys more, and possibly take new equity stakes
in liquefied natural gas projects, helping it meet an energy deficit caused by
its Fukushima disaster and nuclear shutdown.
This was discussed Wednesday in closed-door
Tokyo
talks
between Russia Energy Minister Alexander Novak and
Japan
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshimitsu Motegi, said METI Oil and
Natural Gas Director Ryo Minami, who was also present.
Japanese utilities, which rely on LNG to make more than half of the electricity
they produce, need to line up new import deals as some 30 million tons a year
of supply contracts will expire in 2017-2020, according to Wall Street Journal
calculation based on utilities' press releases.
Buyers have already secured some 25 million tons of this, but a lot more will
be needed as
Japan
's
annual LNG demand has risen by 24%, or 17 million tons a year, since the
Fukushima
accident in 2011 and the subsequent closure of nearly all of
Japan
's
nuclear plants.
"Russia has a few projects (in which) it wants Japan's cooperation,"
including a Vladivostok LNG project, Mr. Minami said, adding this could be in
the form of fuel purchases or joining projects.
Japan
is
the world largest LNG importer, shipping in 87 million tons last year, but only
9.5% of this came from
Russia
. In
recent years, Japanese utilities have signed strings of long-term purchase
agreements with emerging world-class gas exporter
Australia
, and
taken mostly small stakes in LNG export projects there.
"It would depend on prices,"
Japan
's
METI Minister Motegi told his Russian counterpart.
Russia
has
been in on-off gas supply talks with
China
for
years. Plans to build two gas pipelines from
East
Siberia
into
China
have
run into a wall due to arguments over the price of the gas.
Mr. Novak's visit to
Tokyo
follow three announcements in February that have the potential to shake up the
Asian LNG market.
One was
U.S.
energy giant Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) saying it and
Russia
's OAO
Rosneft (ROSN.RS) may build an LNG plant on
Sakhalin
island where they have stakes in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project. Also in
February, President Vladimir Putin said he might allow Rosneft to export LNG,
breaking a monopoly held by OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS).
Previously, Exxon Mobil, which is operator and 30% owner of Sakhalin-1,
indicated it wanted to sell gas from the venture to
China
, via
a pipeline. This was opposed by a METI-led Japanese consortium with a 30%
stake, Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Co., which wanted to ship gas to
Japan
in
the form of LNG.
Thirdly, Gazprom said it will push ahead with building an LNG export terminal
at
Vladivostok
, near
Sakhalin
, which could be exporting as much as 5 million
tons of LNG a year by 2018. Gazprom had been in discussion on this with a
Itochu Corp. (8001.TO)-led Japanese consortium for several years.
Gazprom says possible customers for Vladivostok-origin LNG could include state
energy giant China National Petroleum Corp.
These developments came as Russia-Japan tensions were running high over
Japanese allegations in early February that Russian fighter jets had intruded
over its northern airspace in the first such incident in five years.
Despite their extensive economic ties,
Russia
and
Japan
haven't signed a World War II peace treaty due to their dispute over what are
known as the southern
Kuril Islands
by
Russia
and
the
Northern Territories
by
Japan
.
Even so, business is booming. Two-way trade between the two countries rose 8.5%
to Y2.66 trillion ($30 billion) in 2012, with
Japan
registering a deficit of Y654.6 billion.
Far Eastern Russian supplies have a major transport cost advantage, as sailing
time to Japanese waters is just one day from
Vladivostok
compared with about 20 days from the
Middle East
and
14 days from
Australia
.
However, Russian sellers will need to beat off competition from LNG export
projects planned in the
U.S.
,
Canada
and
Mozambique
and
traditional producers
Australia
,
Indonesia
,
Qatar
and
Malaysia
.
Competitors such as
Norway
's
Statoil ASA (STO) are chipping away at Gazprom's European market share by
offering clients there more flexible contracts and prices not linked to oil. Gazprom's
gas sales to the E.U. fell 9.1% last year from 2011, but it has said it won't
change its pricing policy.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:58
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:54
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:32
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:27
Τρι, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 20:01