Japanese companies foreseeing a growing surplus in stocks of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as their demand for the fuel wanes in coming years are scrambling to invest in regional markets to provide potential outlets to sell the gas.
As more nuclear plants restart and renewable energy gains momentum, Japan's LNG imports are at their lowest in over a decade, spurring companies to turn to Asia to unload supplies contracted during past market shocks, such as Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Energy flexibility and security concerns ensure that Japan wants to stay a big player in LNG, but it is looking for markets to sell its excess, in line with a government strategy to keep volumes at 100 million tonnes by building gas demand in Asia.
This year, Tokyo Gas announced a study for 1.5-gigawatt LNG-to-power project in Vietnam and bought a stake in an LNG regasification terminal in the Philippines, while trading houses Marubeni and Sojitz launched a 1.8 GW-big LNG-fired power plant in Indonesia.
