The changes in Japan's LNG imports post-Fukushima

摘要

It is now two years since the tragic events of March 11, 2011, when the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami devastated the north-east coastline of Honshu Island leaving thousands of people dead and many more homeless. It also resulted in the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl twenty-five years earlier. Japan's power utilities have had to respond to the shut-down of the country's fifty nuclear units that survived the tsunami, only two of which have been allowed to restart, by encouraging consumers to reduce their consumption and by increasing the output from thermal power plants. LNG has played an important role in meeting power demand. This has required a major change in the procurement of LNG and had a significant impact on LNG trading patterns globally and on the demand for LNG shipping. With the final data on LNG imports in 2012 now available, LNG Business Review looks at the changes that have taken place in Japan's LNG supply since 2010, the last full year before the Fukushima crisis, and the implications for the future supply.