Minister: Qatar LNG stoppage won't affect Japan's energy supplies immediately

Qatar's LNG production halt caused by Iranian strikes won't affect Japan's supply of energy immediately. If there is an impact, Japan can tap the spot market, or utilities can buy from one another, said Trade Minister Yosei Acazawa on Tuesday.

Akazawa said at a regular news conference that Qatari LNG accounts for 4% (of Japan's total LNG) imports. He also reiterated that the government has no plans to release any oil from its stockpiles while Japan bound ships are stuck in the Middle East.

According to the Japanese government, companies in the country have enough LNG to last about three weeks. The oil stocks are equivalent to 254 days worth of net imports.

The U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran has "pitched the Gulf in war", killed scores of people across Iran, Israel, and Lebanon and caused chaos for global air travel. It also shut down shipping along the Strait of Hormuz where a quarter of world oil trade, and LNG, skirts the Iranian coast.

The foreign ministry of Japan said that 42 ships related to Japan are in the Gulf.

Qatar stopped its LNG production Monday as Iran continued to attack Gulf countries in response?to Israeli and U.S. attacks against it. This prompted precautionary shut downs of oil and natural gas facilities throughout the Middle East.

Customs data show that Japan, which is the second-largest LNG importer in the world, bought 3.4 million tons of LNG last year from Qatar. Japan's LNG imports from the Middle East accounted for around 7 million tons last year.

JERA and Kansai Electric Power Co., two of Japan's largest LNG importers, have contracts to purchase LNG from Middle Eastern producers.

Japan exports about 40 million tons of LNG annually, and in an emergency it could send some back home. It also has a system in place that allows it to purchase at least one LNG shipment - or 70,000 tons - each month to reduce supply risks. Reporting by Yoshifumi Takamoto, Kantaro Kommiya, Katya Golubkova, and Rie Ishiguro. Editing by Jacqueline Wong, and Sonali Paul

(source: Reuters)