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Page added on April 13, 2012
Japan Use of Oil May Surge
Japanese utilities will use 300,000 more barrels of oil a day in 2012 than before last year’s nuclear crisis unless it restores some of its atomic reactors, according to the International Energy Agency.
Japan will also need an additional 23 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas to meet demand if utilities can’t access idled reactors, the IEA said today in a report.
Japan relied on nuclear power for almost 30 percent of its electricity before the disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501)’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi atomic station. It had just one of its 54 reactors operating as of March 26, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“A no-nuclear scenario can’t be ruled out, as public opinion channeled through local governments currently remains skeptical concerning the nuclear industry, despite the apparent economic imperatives supporting nuclear capacity restarts,” the IEA said in the report.
Japan’s government endorsed new safety measures on April 9 to allow switching on two Kansai Electric Power Co. (9503) reactors. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiko Noda is meeting with government officials today to discuss restarts, Kyodo reported.
With the return of some reactors, crude and fuel-oil demand will be 250,000 barrels a day more than before the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 wrecked three reactors at Tepco’s Fukushima plant northeast of Tokyo, the IEA said. LNG demand will be 19 billion cubic meters more, it said.
8 Comments on "Japan Use of Oil May Surge"
BillT on Fri, 13th Apr 2012 2:20 pm
And the Empire wants to cut off the oil Japan buys from Iran….lol. Fat chance! Looks like they will be increasing their purchase instead. About time the nuclear industry shuts down. Then they can deal with the tens of thousands of ton of radioactive waste for the next 10,000+ years and find out just how ‘cheap’ nuclear electric really is. I think the Japanese have been taken down once again by three of their own nukes this time.
Rick on Fri, 13th Apr 2012 4:20 pm
Last I heard through a good source, Japan has shut down all their reactors.
Kenz300 on Fri, 13th Apr 2012 5:55 pm
The disaster at Fukishima continues today with no end in sight. Spent fuel rod pools are as much an issue as the reactors themselves.
DC on Fri, 13th Apr 2012 9:36 pm
Neither nuclear fission as we currently practice it, nor burning fossil-fuels are sustainable, no matter how you measure the concept. Both are a trap, Run the nukes, theres going to be an accident, burn more toxic fossil-fuels, air-land-water pollution goes up too, people get sick and die from it, food production is poisoned either way. The only way out of the trap is to reduce energy use in absolute terms. Build solar and wind etc and learn to leave within what it can provide. But also de-electrify and de-mechanize as much as possible. Anything else simply wont work, and just delays the inevitable.
Sucks when were in a position were we cant afford to, and cant afford not to. Thats where Japan is now.
BillT on Sat, 14th Apr 2012 1:55 am
That is also where the Us is, DC. We only continue to exist as a country because of China’s interest in our market for their goods. As they find other markets closer to home, they will care less and less what happens to us. In fact, they control us totally and they know it.
This really is Asia’s century. It will be the one where they grow into world power and the West contracts from world power. All because of a lack of that ‘black gold’ to power our Western way of life.
And, no, wind, solar, wave, biofuels, biogas, etc. will not EVER provide enough energy to even maintain a sizable percent of our current lifestyle. ALL of them depend on cheap plentiful energy at some point to exist. WE are running on a cheap oil legacy and when that runs out, it will be over. Think about it.
Kenz300 on Sat, 14th Apr 2012 2:20 am
Japan has shut down 53 of 54 nuclear reactors and maybe the last one by now.
I’ll bet no politician or Energy industry spokesperson would ever have said that the country could survive without all those nuclear power plants. I’ll bet if Japan changed every light bulb in the country to LED they would never need those plants. LED’s use 25% of the energy of regular bulbs. Energy conservation can go a long way to reducing our energy needs. Wind, solar, wave energy, geothermal and second generation biofuels made from algae, cellulose and waste can also make a difference. There is no simple or single solution to our energy future but as we can see from Japan we can adjust to using a lot less energy.
Arthur on Sun, 15th Apr 2012 8:17 pm
Bill says: “This really is Asia’s century. It will be the one where they grow into world power and the West contracts from world power. All because of a lack of that ‘black gold’ to power our Western way of life”
Uh yes, but the Chinese will be lacking the black gold as well. I do not believe in ‘rising world powers’. The rise of China in the past decades was build on cheap fossil fuel. Instead every ‘world power’ today will have to manage decline and nothing else. This applies to the US, EU, Japan, China, Russia, etc.
WW1, WW2 and the Cold War were enabled by the availability of cheap fossil fuels. All this dynamism is going to disappear. Implosion is going to be the norm, not expansion. That certainly applies to Asia as well.
Nano on Mon, 16th Apr 2012 11:40 am
It is almost certain that the Japanese will restart most if not all their nuclear reactors. Also, they will continue to build new nuclear reactors. Bij 2050, nuclear power will produce more than 50% of Japan’s energy.
All the posturing in Japan since Fukushima is just that. Japan may build an impressive amount of wind and solar energy, but the backbone of their energy system will be nuclear for at least the next 100 years. Anyone who is familiar with the Japanese energy situation and history, and knows something about science and energy technology will know this.