Japan’s trade minister said the country aims to curb dependence on Russian liquefied natural gas, but can’t immediately halt imports despite growing pressure from the US.
“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.
Japan has often said that it doesn’t plan to immediately stop buying Russian LNG, even as allies in Europe move to ban the fuel to crimp Moscow’s access to funding for the war in Ukraine. The Asian nation is the only member of the Group of Seven that hasn’t committed to a timeline to end Russian gas imports.
Muto indicated that replacing Russian supply could prove expensive. The Asian LNG market is expected to remain tight for the time being, and rising procurement costs could lead to higher electricity rates, he said.
The comments come as the US ramps up efforts to reduce Moscow’s energy sales in a bid to end the war. The Trump administration expects Japan to stop importing energy from Russia, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato during a meeting last week.
Japan’s trading houses own a stake in the Russian Sakhalin-2 plant, the closest LNG export terminal to the country. Furthermore, much of the fuel bought from the project is supplied under long-term purchase agreements, some of which don’t expire until the 2030s.
In order to tackle the issue of Russian LNG, the government in Tokyo will work closely with the international community, including Group of Seven nations, based on what is necessary for Japan’s national interests, Muto said.
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