The United States expects Japan to stop importing Russian energy, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on X, following a meeting with Japan’s Finance Minister, Katsunobo Kato.
“Minister Kato and I also discussed important issues pertaining to the U.S.-Japan economic relationship and the Administration’s expectation that Japan stop importing Russian energy,” Bessent wrote.
Per a readout published by the Department of Treasury, “Secretary Bessent and Minister Kato discussed important issues pertaining to the U.S.-Japan economic relationship, including global security and the importance of G7 commitments to increase economic pressure on Russia.”
The Trump administration has prioritized financial pressure on Russia via curbing its oil and gas revenues as a means of forcing it to the negotiation table with Ukraine. So far, there has been no signal Moscow is about to budge, not least because the pressure that the U.S. and its fellow G7 members are trying to apply needs to be applied carefully to avoid a spike in energy prices, to which most of the G7 is highly vulnerable.
Japan actually stopped importing Russian crude oil in early 2023 but was then granted a special sanction waiver by the Biden administration that allowed it to continue importing oil from the Sakhalin-2 project nd, more importantly, LNG from Sakhalin.
Japan imports 9% of all its liquefied natural gas from Russia, with annual volumes at around 6 million tons. Of that, 5 million tons come under long-term supply contracts with the consortium operating the Sakhalin-2 project, which also includes two Japanese energy majors, Mitsui & Co., and Mitsubishi Corporation, alongside operator Gazprom.
“Maintaining the same level of supply from Russia may prove challenging due to the agreement among G7 members to reduce reliance on Russian energy,” a Japanese industry ministry official said in December last year. Japanese government officials have repeatedly noted that maintaining access to Russian hydrocarbons is vital for the country’s energy security.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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