Introduction

Japan is the fourth largest consumer of primary energy in the world despite its economy and banking sector being in deep trouble and its energy consumption in decline as a result. Japan's sectorial energy pattern and the geographic provenance of its fossil energy will therefore continue to exert a considerable influence on world energy markets, and in particular on the increasingly tighter Asian regional energy situation. Asia imports around 60 % of its oil from the Middle East, and by 2010 it will be the world's largest consumer of primary energy. China became a net ...