Recently in Japan Category

(John Roberts was a guest lecturer on energy security at the NATO Partnership for Peace Symposium at Oberammergau earlier this month.)

When NATO looks at Iran it would seem reasonable to expect that it was looking at how the western world's warships are cramming into the Strait of Hormuz amidst charge and counter-charge that the strait faces the prospect of an Iranian blockade.

But when NATO invites its partners in the region -- countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt are all members of NATO's Partnership for Peace program -- for an informal symposium on issues of mutual interest, it's not just energy security that's up for discussion, but cyber security, water and the problems posed by declining military budgets.

Japan and South Korea initiated talks at the end of November on LNG policy that could challenge the domination of the LNG supply chain by the international oil majors and producing countries.

Indeed, the talks could be seen as setting out an outline for an eventual forum of major LNG consuming countries that would provide a counterweight to moves by gas exporting powers to exercise more control over international gas supply.

As Tokyo prepares for Christmas, a very big holiday here, Jose Sergio Gabrielli de Azevedo showed up in Japan's capital with what he wanted Santa to bring him. It was a lot more than 12 drummers drumming and five gold rings.

The Petrobras CEO has been making a grand tour of Asia the past two weeks, speaking and holding media briefings in Singapore (at Singapore International Energy Week), South Korea and Tokyo.

The devastating March 11 earthquake has led Japan to review its energy policy in general, and its nuclear policy in particular, amid ongoing safety concerns. The government's eventual decision on nuclear policy will affect Japan's energy portfolio in general, but the country may also need to review its oil policy, especially regarding fuel oil use, at least in the short term.

It's becoming increasingly clear that Japan will need more crude, fuel oil and LNG as direct-burning feedstocks for power generation over the next few years as more nuclear reactors are shut down for maintenance. No reactors have been restarted since the earthquake.

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan's request May 6 to Chubu Electric to shut all operations at its sole Hamaoka nuclear power plant is causing waves of aftershocks at multiple levels, at the prospect of further worsening power shortages across the country.

Kan's request, which was the first of its kind and not legally binding, was made in the belief that the Hamaoka nuclear plant may not be sufficiently earthquake- and tsunami-proof and a forecast of an 87% probability that an earthquake of magnitude 8 will likely strike near the plant in the next 30 years.

With gasoline so much the focus of all US economic talking heads and politicians, it's important to remember that it isn't the only thing that comes out of a refinery.

In the aftermath of the earthquake in Japan, there's been a sort of polarization in the tanker market that has pitted some charterers against certain owners.

It's been more than a month since the devastating earthquake and tsunami had struck the northeastern coast of Japan, but still a few tanker owners are avoiding Japanese ports on fears of nuclear radiation from the Fukushima I nuclear plant.

As Japan struggles to cope with the aftermath of last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami, one area which could give it some relative comfort is oil-fired power generation, where it has more than enough spare capacity to offset the nuclear plants currently off line, according to analysis by the International Energy Agency.

Platts nuclear group, led by Tom Harrison and William Freebairn, published a story early Monday Japan time on just what is and might be happening with the damaged nuclear reactors in Japan. We are publishing it for Barrel readers below.

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Japan, which imports more than 95% of its carbon-based fuel needs in the form of oil, gas or coal, has for decades looked for the means to reduce its reliance on foreign suppliers and increase its energy security.

It's one of the reasons Japan, the world's largest importer of LNG, has been so adamant in staking its claim to the possible gas reserves underneath the waters surrounding the various disputed isles of the East China Sea.

Now, fortune and technology may be smiling on the energy-poor country, with the discovery of an unconventional energy source that could possibly provide it with enough gas to meet its demand for 14 years. Japan, at least, has been working with that hope ever since it confirmed 40 trillion cubic feat of methane hydrates in the southern Sea of Kumano in 2007.