Japan’s trade minister Ryosei Akazawa has asked the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to cooperate in ensuring stable crude oil supplies and stabilizing the global crude oil market in order to enhance energy security, Jiji Press reports.
Japan plans to invest US$36 billion in US oil, gas and critical mineral projects, the first tranche of its US$550 billion commitment under the trade agreement it struck with US President Donald Trump.
“Our massive trade deal with Japan has just launched!” Trump posted on Tuesday (Feb 17). “The scale of these projects are so large, and could not be done without one very special word, tariffs.”
Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has taken delivery of a newbuilding dual-fuel VLGC to serve a time charter contract for TotalEnergies subsidiary CSSA Chartering and Shipping Services, MOL announced on Friday.
Japan’s JERA has signed its first long-term LNG supply agreement outside Japan with India’s Torrent Power, JERA announced on Monday.
“Japan has steadily reduced dependency on Russian energy in the wake of the Ukraine war,” Trade Minister Yoji Muto said on Tuesday, without providing a timeline or details on when imports could end. LNG supply from the Russian Sakhalin-2 export project accounts for about 10 percent of the nation’s total imports of the fuel and so “plays an important role” in energy security, he added.
The developer of the Alaska LNG project, Glenfarne, has been busy in the past months finding companies willing to make offtake commitments for the $44-billion project that is being actively promoted by the Trump administration. The company is yet to make a final investment decision on Alaska LNG but plans to make one for the facility’s pipeline by the end of the year, and another for its export terminal in 2026.
Announcing its maiden dispatch from the project, Petronas said, “LNG Canada is a critical component of PETRONAS’ global LNG strategy to diversify its supply portfolio and increase market flexibility. Strategically located on Canada’s west coast and connected to PETRONAS’ upstream gas assets in Northeast B.C., LNG Canada offers a direct and efficient shipping corridor to key North Asian markets including Japan, South Korea and China”.
Tokyo Gas Co. is in discussions with multiple U.S. liquefied natural gas suppliers to secure a long-term purchase agreement, as rising energy demand leaves Japan increasingly dependent on the fuel source.
Energy Transfer has signed a 20-year deal with Japan’s Kyushu Electric Power Company to supply up to 1 million tpy of LNG from its Lake Charles LNG facility, the company said Thursday.
Japan will tout its prowess in building ice-breakers, a growing area of need as security concerns in the Arctic region mount, while also offering to help repair US battleships that patrol the Asia-Pacific, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Sunday, as his hand-picked trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa returned to Tokyo following a third-round of discussions with US counterparts in Washington.