Russia to increase coal supplies to Japan by 16%

In 2011 Russia plans on increasing the coal supplies to Japan by 16 % and reach 12 mln tons, reported K. Alekseev, the Director of the Coal and Turf Trade Department of the Ministry of Energy. After destructive earthquake and tsunami in March 11 2011, Japan went into an energy crisis and the Government had to resort to radical energy cut offs. K.Alekseev reported on Tuesday, that last year Russia exported 10.37 mln tons of coal to Japan. This year the figure might reach 12 mln tons. According to Mr. Alekseev, during the last four months of this year, the supplies have increased already by 200.000 tons. The Ministry of Energy reported that 2.54 mln tons of coal have already been exported to Japan in 2010 over the last four months, in 2010 the export reached more than 2.7 mln tons. Japan is the fourth largest energy consuming country in the world while having practically no energy resources of its own at all. The gas consumption in Japan is around 80 bln cubic m per year, making up a share of 15% of the whole energy consumption. Japan imports 100% of the consumable gas in the form of liquefied natural gas, ranking  as the first importer of this kind of gas in the world. Source: http://www.rosinvest.com/news/826412/ Translated by: Anastasia Edrenkina