Energy security a must as demand soars: report
Kyodo News
Japan must secure channels for a stable energy supply as global energy demand is expected to surge in the next 25 years led by a jump in demand forecast for Asian economies, particularly China, warns a government report released Friday.
The Natural Resources and Energy Agency, under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, warned in its annual white paper that Japan should prepare for the possibility of a serious supply problem by 2030, when global energy demand is expected to soar 59 percent from the 2002 level.
Demand from China alone is expected to expand 21 percent by 2030 from the 2002 level, while the rest of Asia is forecast to rise 6 percent, an agency official said.
The paper said Japan, which supplied only 19 percent of its total energy demand, including nuclear power, as of 2002, needs to continue energy stockpiling, conserve more energy and reduce its dependence on oil and other resource imports to lower the risk of an energy shortage.
The Middle East has supplied nearly 90 percent of Japan's crude oil in recent years, marking a recovery from the upper 60 percent level in the 1980s following the oil crises of the 1970s.
The country tried to move away from Middle East oil after the crises caused prices to skyrocket, but Japan is dependent on the region again as supplies in other regions are shrinking, the official said.
As a country with advanced energy conservation experience, Japan needs to help its Asian neighbors heighten energy security through technology transfers, the paper says.
The report also says the number of pirate attacks on vessels transporting crude oil from the Middle East has been on the rise in the Malacca Strait in recent years. The attacks pose threats to the energy security of Asia, it says.
Turning to "important developments" on energy matters, the white paper touches on the row between China and Japan over oil and gas exploration projects in the East China Sea.
China has been developing natural resources in the area close to what Japan claims is the median line separating the two countries' exclusive economic zones.
Tokyo began taking steps in April to grant test-drilling rights to Japanese companies in the area east of the line as it was "urgently needed to secure our rights" in the waters, the report says.
The Japan Times: May 28, 2005
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