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April 16, 2012

[SSJ: 7382] Re: A couple of reasons why the electricity has kept flowing despite the nuclear shutdowns

From: Brown, James David
Date: 2012/04/16

My suggestion is that political difficulties between Japan and Russia, which of course include the dispute over the Southern Kurils/Northern Territories, have impeded the development of trade in energy. This clearly does not mean that there are no joint projects whatsoever. Japanese companies are involved in Sakhalin
1 and 2, and around 3% of Japanese oil and 8.6% of LNG already come from Russia (EIA figures). This, however, would seem to leave a great deal of scope for further imports.

With Japan now suffering an energy crisis, my conjecture is that Japanese policymakers may be compelled to more actively pursue relations with Russia in the energy field, even if this means taking a softer line on the territorial dispute. Jun Okumura notes that Japan does not have a 'command economy.' I take his point. However, with a resource as strategic as energy, governments almost always play a leading role and major energy deals are often signed at an intergovernmental level.

James D.J. Brown

Approved by ssjmod at 11:28 AM