Qatar, Japan’s energy white knight

Qatar is expected to emerge as a country that holds the key to Japan’s future energy security as it becomes the country’s biggest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) around 2010.

This year Japan adopted a “New National Energy Strategy”. The new strategy reflects growing concerns about energy security in the medium and long terms amid high oil prices and the intensifying global rush for oil, gas and other resources, led by China and India. The new strategy calls for strengthened relations with oil- and gas-rich countries through such means as provision of official development assistance and conclusion of free-trade agreements to ensure stable supplies.
In yet another development that casts a cloud over the future of Japan’s energy security, Indonesia, Japan’s largest LNG supplier, is poised to cut in half its Japan-bound exports of gas when long-term contracts expire in 2010 to boost the availability of natural gas for domestic industries amid decreasing oil and natural-gas production at home.

Asia Times