How Japan ignored climate critics and built a global natural gas empire
🇯🇵❤️🚢
Every six hours, somewhere in the world, an LNG shipment controlled by a Japanese company leaves a port. However, these tankers are only the tip of the iceberg
A thread 🧵
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-japan-natural-gas-lng-global-trade/?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTczMTQ1NzQ0MywiZXhwIjoxNzMyMDYyMjQzLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTSVpaTzNUMVVNMFcwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJFOTY4RDMzNDhBQTQ0NUFFQUM1QUFGMEQ0NUI4NjlEQiJ9.BugyHU-mxsUSHqXG-JHoQsodOdDLW2B4f1EGDLP5ZJw
🇯🇵❤️🚢
Every six hours, somewhere in the world, an LNG shipment controlled by a Japanese company leaves a port. However, these tankers are only the tip of the iceberg
A thread 🧵
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-japan-natural-gas-lng-global-trade/?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTczMTQ1NzQ0MywiZXhwIjoxNzMyMDYyMjQzLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTSVpaTzNUMVVNMFcwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJFOTY4RDMzNDhBQTQ0NUFFQUM1QUFGMEQ0NUI4NjlEQiJ9.BugyHU-mxsUSHqXG-JHoQsodOdDLW2B4f1EGDLP5ZJw
Comments
Over the last 50+ years, the Japanese government and its companies have worked together to unlock new supplies from Brunei and Malaysia to Indonesia and Russia
They agree to buy the gas. And a lot of it
Japan’s long-term purchase agreements underpinned many LNG export projects
The first LNG cargoes from Qatar to Australia went to Japan
No problem. Japan will do it
Chiyoda and others became the biggest contractors for LNG export plants
No problem, Japanese utilities and trading houses will also buy minority stakes in the facilities
(Ichthys project on Australia is very Japanese)
Japan Bank for International Cooperation is the biggest public lender to LNG projects
Japanese commercial banks are also top lenders
This is important, as more and more banks curb exposure to fossil fuels
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-30/japan-provides-1-billion-loan-to-develop-australian-gas-project?sref=DLVyDcXJ