Following triggers like the 1956 Suez Crisis, European nations strengthened their petroleum stockpiles. In emulation of this, Japan began its preparations in the late 1960s and, by the time of the first oil crisis in 1973, already possessed a petroleum stockpile sufficient for about 60 days by the private sector. At that time, oil's share of Japan's primary energy exceeded 70%, reinforcing oil reserves as a rational choice. Due to this sufficient stockpiling of oil products, no panic arose during subsequent Middle East crises. While the oil ratio has fallen below 40%, the demand for LNG has significantly increased in recent days. However, reserves are only held for petroleum. If the supply of LNG were to be halted, there would only be a few weeks' worth of stock available, and there are no effective alternative measures in place. Considering the recent expansion of threats to maritime transport routes near Japan, introducing a government-stockpiled LNG is urgently necessary.

Western countries imposed sanctions against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; in retaliation, Russia cut the natural gas supply to the EU. In early September 2022, Russia stopped its gas supply to Germany through the Nordstream subsea pipeline to countermeasure against setting price caps on Russian oil and gas transactions by the G7. As a result, half of Germany’s gas demand, dependent on Russia, was disrupted.
The origin of defenseless reliance on Russian energy appears rooted in Germany’s contemporary history, such as the eastern policy (Ostpolitik), anti-nuclear movement, environmental protection, and somewhat anti-American sentiment. While it is still difficult to understand why Germany is heavily dependent on natural gas from Russia, the result is that they underestimated the risks of pipeline transactions and could not take measures for the disruption. In these circumstances, Japan should increase its energy security by establishing state stockpiling of coal for power generation, keeping oil power generation at capacity, and revisiting domestic coal reserves in preparation for naval blockades in sea lanes.

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カーボンニュートラル

エネルギー・環境・カーボンニュートラル等の解説