Japan has reportedly resumed imports of Russian oil after a nine-month hiatus. Tokyo received 706 barrels of Russian crude in January from the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project, partly owned by Russia’s Gazprom and Japanese companies signaling desire to continue with the energy partnership. The deliveries were taken by Japan’s Taiyo oil, whose spokesperson said that the cargo was part of the remaining crude volume under its 2022 contract.
Japan has almost none of its own fossil fuels, heavily relying on imports for much of its energy needs. To date, Japan is the only Group of Seven members not to have supplied Ukraine with lethal weapons.
Tokyo’s imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) were up more than 4% in 2022. Sakhalin-1 produces oil, while Sakhalin-2 produces both crude and LNG, and experts say access to Russian gas is what Japan is most concerned about safeguarding. Last year, 9.5% of Japan’s total LNG imports came from Russia, up from 8.8% in 2021 — most of it from Sakhalin-2.
Japan’s recent decision to purchase Russian oil at above $60 a barrel marks a break with its Western allies.
Japan has never forgotten the oil shock of the 1970s, and energy security threats “are ingrained in the mindset of the Japanese government”, James Brown, a political science professor at Temple University’s Japan campus, told Euractiv. The country’s energy supplies would be particularly at risk “in the case of a crisis in the Middle East or in the South China Sea, through which much of Japan’s energy is shipped”, he added.
There is support for Russia from within a section of the Japan’s ruling elite. Russia’s defeat in the war in Ukraine is “unthinkable,” former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori had said earlier this year.“Such a situation could lead to something much worse,” Mori had said at a meeting in Tokyo.
“We have made efforts [for the Japan-Russia relationship] thus far, so I wonder if it’s right to place such emphasis on Ukraine,” Mori argued.
Muneo Suzuki, a veteran lawmaker, has also made efforts to resolve the issue of disputes with Russia over islands.
Mori served as Japanese prime minister for about one year from April 2000. After he retired as a lower house lawmaker about a decade ago, Mori met with Putin as a special envoy of then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated during an election campaign speech in early July last year.
