Japan's energy shake-up

The country's energy industry has been thrown into a state of turmoil by 'Abenomics'

Japan's energy sector faces declining long-term consumption and a reversal of historic government policy that has been preoccupied with security of supply for the best part of half a century. Yet although demand for oil is steadily shrinking, Japan remains an important premium country for oil producers. With limited crude resources of its own—despite decades of exploration, mostly outside the country—Japan imports around 4m barrels a day. "Accordingly, oil producers that can reliably supply the correct class of API and sulphur content crude compatible with Japanese refinery configurations, can rely on captive customers," notes the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies in a paper published in Fe