TOKYO, March 16. /TASS/. Japan purchased a small volume of oil from Russia in February for the second consecutive month, with imports of oil generally limited by the price cap excluding the Sakhalin-2 project, according to TASS’ calculations based on data released by the Japanese finance ministry on Thursday.
Moreover, LNG imports from Russia fell by 20% last month, while coal deliveries dropped by 85.6%. That said, total coal purchases from all countries were almost flat, down by 0.2%, while LNG imports lost 9.9%.
Tokyo joined G7 nations in the implementation of the mechanism of price cap on Russian oil, bringing crude purchases from Russia almost to zero since last June, with only small import volumes persisting in July and August 2022, as well as in January 2023. Restrictions on Russian oil do not cover supplies from the Sakhalin-2 project, with its main product being LNG, while oil supplies contingent on gas contracts. Japan receives around 9% of all LNG imports from Sakhalin-2, whereas Russian gas accounts for around 3% of all power generation.