TOKYO, May 9. /TASS/. As part of the "collective course" pursued by G7 countries, Japan decided to abandon Russian oil and gas and now purchases only small volumes of oil from the Sakhalin-2 project once or twice a year, from which it receives about 9% of all imported LNG, Russian Ambassador to Japan Nikolay Nozdrev told TASS, noting that Tokyo has not approached Moscow about resuming oil supplies.
"Through Tokyo’s efforts, bilateral cooperation in the energy sphere has been reduced to a minimum. Japan, which is almost entirely dependent on energy imports from abroad, decided as part of the collective course of the Group of Seven to abandon Russian oil and coal," he said, noting that Tokyo has managed "to a certain extent" to defend the importance of maintaining participation in Russian energy projects on Sakhalin and in the Arctic.
"No requests regarding the resumption of oil supplies have been received from the government of [Sanae] Takaichi," Nozdrev said, adding that "if such a request is eventually prepared, the Japanese side will need to lift sanctions, primarily the price cap on Russian oil." Exceptions to the price cap apply only to oil from Sakhalin-2, whose deliveries are linked to LNG supplies. The Japanese side has not abandoned purchases of liquefied natural gas or participation in the project.
Japan also maintains participation in another LNG project, Arctic LNG 2, but due to US sanctions cannot receive gas from it. "A similar situation exists with gas shipments from the Arctic LNG 2 project, where Tokyo is forced to sacrifice its own energy security interests and act with an eye on Washington," Nozdrev noted.
The Japanese side received a small volume of oil from Sakhalin-2 in early May. At the request of the Japanese authorities, the oil was purchased by Taiyo Oil and Idemitsu Kosan. Representatives of both companies told TASS that the purchases were made, among other reasons, as part of efforts to diversify supply sources amid the situation in the Strait of Hormuz.