INTERVIEW: Tokyo Gas Sees No Risk Increase over Russian LNG

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo Gas Co. does not see any increase in risks in continuing to procure liquefied natural gas from Russia despite stepped-up Western sanctions, President Shinichi Sasayama said. The company will keep working with the government to maintain its stable procurement of Russian LNG, Sasayama also said in a recent interview. About 14 pct of the LNG Tokyo Gas imports comes from Russia, mostly from the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project off the country’s Far East coast. The United States has exempted the project from its sanctions, but the waiver is set to expire on Dec. 19, making Washington’s next move a focal point. “Under the current contract, we’re basically obliged to pay even if we don’t receive the LNG,” Sasayama said. If the company stops procuring the fuel, “the volume would simply be sold (to other countries),” he added. Regarding the LNG development project in Alaska that U.S. President Donald Trump is working to promote, Sasayama said only that the project is geographically close to Japan while the procurement costs remain unclear. Regarding the company’s withdrawal from a U.S. project to produce synthetic methane from hydrogen and carbon dioxide, he said that the country’s shift away from decarbonization and inflation have made the project “less economical than initially expected.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]