Hidden threat: Japan has only 2-week stockpile of LNG asia.nikkei.com/Business/Energ… | Scenarios that were once unimaginable are about to play out. Greater Tokyo with no power! Wow! Just goes to show nuclear is the most secure energy source
“Because LNG is poorly suited for long-term storage, Japan only has a two-week stockpile. Yet, the country depends on the fuel for 40% of its electric power generation needs, and all of the LNG it uses is imported from the Middle East and Southeast Asia.”
“These extraordinary steps underscore just how vital the power station is. Tokyo Bay, which stretches across the prefectures of Chiba, Tokyo and Kanagawa, is Japan's most important LNG power generation hub. JERA operates many of the power plants there, all of which run on LNG.”
“If, for instance, the coronavirus was to force these plants to stop, the Greater Tokyo area would immediately lose its power supply.”
“Before the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami in Japan, LNG made up 28% of the country's power generation. That increased to 40% in fiscal 2017 as the nation's nuclear power plants went off grid, one after the other, following the Fukushima nuclear crisis.”
“While some of Japan's nuclear plants have come back online, based on the strictest standards in the world, only three of the 10 electric power companies have been able to do so.”
“Unlike oil, LNG is hard to stockpile. After the Arab oil shocks of the early 1970s, Japan passed a law to require stockpiling oil, and about 200 days of domestic consumption is stored together with the private sector.”
“LNG, meanwhile, cannot be held in large volume because of its composition. To ship over long distances, the gas is chilled until it is minus-162 degrees C, at which point it becomes liquid. But it evaporates as it is being transported.”
“It takes about a month to ship the LNG from the Middle East to Japan. With shipments arriving constantly, a few missed shipments will not immediately signal a crisis. But an extended cutoff will spell trouble for the country.”
“India became unable to import LNG after locking down the entire country in late March.” - This can’t be emphasised enough - India’s energy security is extremely vulnerable. A huge paradigm shift is required. Energy security policymakers must be driven by unrivalled paranoia!
