The World’s Third-Largest Economy (Japan) Is Facing A Looming Energy Crisis

OilPrice.com ^ | Jul 05, 2022 | Charles Kennedy

[BeauBo]

Japan is facing an energy crisis that can severely hurt the world's third-largest economy as it is forced to tackle a combination of a weak local currency, the fallout from the Ukraine war, and a heatwave.

Japan already had a significant energy import bill as it depends on foreign oil and gas for 90 percent of its needs. But as the yen fell to the lowest in 20 years, Japan's bill became even bigger, with the price rise in crude oil, which has been some 40 percent in dollar terms since the start of 2022, reaching a whopping 70 percent in yen terms...

Because of its extreme dependence on imported energy, Japan has had to continue importing Russian oil and gas despite its verbal commitment to sanctions against Moscow...

It could be because of its heavy energy import bill that Japan proposed to the G7 to cap Russian oil export prices at half the current rate.

[Leaning Right]

Japan should just consult with energy experts Al Gore and Greta Thunberg. Gore set the USA right. And Thunberg set Europe right. So as a team they’d have no problem setting Japan right.

[bray]

100% Biden’s fault.

[butlerweave]

In years gone by they would burn Al Gore and Greta Thunberg at the stake as witches

[rlmorel]

I don’t really get the ignorance. There are so many promising alternatives to pressurized water reactors using 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s technology (as long as they don’t use MS Windows in critical areas) that it is insane we are even having these issues.

We should be full bore exploring Thorium Reactors, Pebble Bed reactors, modular and scalable reactors using 21st century technology.

It just baffles me.

[PGR88]

That’s funny that Japan thinks it can cap oil prices as a buyer. I think I will cap the price of an F150 pick up at $25,000 for a 2022 model.

Its the end of globalization. Xi and Putin have called it, its just that no one in government in the wok west wants to admit it.

For 30 years, we had a unipolar world, with the USA at the top, and the USD has the world's major reserve currency. China and Russia followed that system, shipping us cheap crap and energy for printed US dollars. Woke leftists thought - "we can simply eliminate gas and oil, and put up expensive windmills and china-made solar panels. We can also force social engineering on everyone with the power of the US Dollar, and they have to follow us!"

Wall Street said "great! and we can saddle everyone with debt while we get ever-cheaper stuff from Asia and Russia."

That game has just ended.

[Poison Pill]

Japan thinks it can cap oil prices as a buyer.

All they really have to do to get lower oil prices is wait. WTI is 99.65 right now. Down 8% for the day.

[Houserino]

Only thing I can think of is they’re holding out for fusion, but that’s probably a long ways off still. Probably longer than the lifespan of any fission reactor built this decade.

[Leaning Right]

> In years gone by they would burn Al Gore and Greta Thunberg at the stake as witches <

I shudder to think of the air pollution that would have caused.

[gibsonguy]

So many countries inflicted this misery on themselves when the believed the BS the climate a-holes threw at them. Not Russia or China of course.

[Sequoyah101]

I watched with interest as the Jap representative sat at the G-7 conference table seeming to wonder why he was there as the others plotted WWIII in Europe and their eurocentric retribution against russia all at his expense not to mention ours.

Why is Italy in the G-7 that was once the G-8 before russia got expelled in ‘14? The whole bunch is just self-aggrandizing.

[Dr. Sivana]

It surprises me that Japan doesn’t have a more robust nuclear program than it does.

We STILL haven't gotten seriously on board with nukes since the Three Mile Island hiccough.

The Fukishima disaster was considerably worse. The reaction to nukes is emotional to too many people. Serious NIMBY problems, too.

(For the record, I lived under two miles away from the Byron, IL nuke plant. It was a good neighbor.)

[rlmorel]

Right...I have always thought that fusion would be the way to go, but I get the impression is it dependent on some technology breakthrough that has not yet arrived or fully arrived, such as room-temperature superconductors or something along those lines.

[rlmorel]

Fusion always seems to be “Ten years away”...

[BfloGuy]

It surprises me that Japan doesn’t have a more robust nuclear program than it does.

Virtually the entire country is either earthquake-prone or susceptible to tsunamis. They have a few nuclear reactors located as safely as possible, but are understandable reluctant to build more.

[chajin]

The answer for decades was nuclear power, but Fukushima wiped that out, not because nuclear is generally unsafe, but because the disaster made it impossible to convince the public that nuclear is still generally safe.

A combination of Russian and Alaskan oil would be sufficient, but that would take an American government that is practical and realistic (cf "Trump administration"), so that's off the table too.

But then, Japan has been living under the principle of 我慢 (gaman), or "shut up and take it," which is how they will approach and get through the present crisis.

[mewzilla]

Because of its extreme dependence on imported energy, Japan has had to continue importing Russian oil and gas despite its verbal commitment to sanctions against Moscow...

SNORT.

The sanctions have always been a joke.

And the so-called war is just the latest scam.

[blam]

"Fusion always seems to be “Ten years away”..."

I remember them saying that 50 years ago.

[laplata]

Time to fire up the nuke power generator plants.

><

Fukishima is still out of commission. Japan needs coal fired plants.

[rlmorel]

LOL, me too

[laplata]

Fukishima put that on hold.