Energy in Japan refers to energy and electricity production, consumption, import and export in Japan. The country's primary energy consumption was 477.6 Mtoe in 2011, a decrease of 5% over the previous year.
The country lacks significant domestic reserves of fossil fuel, except coal, and must import substantial amounts of crude oil, natural gas, and other energy resources, including uranium. Japan relied on oil imports to meet about 84 percent of its energy needs in 2010. Japan was also the first coal importer in 2010, with 187 Mt (about 20% of total world coal import), and the first natural gas importer with 99 bcm (12.1% of world total gas import). As of 2019, 88% of Japan's power was produced by fossil fuels. On 22 October 2021, Japan declared its intention to reduce carbon emissions to 50% of that in 2013 by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Japan produced 1004.8 TWh of electricity in 2021, close to 4% of the electricity generated in the world and 8% of that in Asia-Pacific (3rd largest behind China and India). Japan consumed 17.03 EJ, 3% of the world's consumption and 7% of Asia-Pacific's consumption (3rd largest behind China and India).
While Japan had previously relied on nuclear power to meet about 30% of its electricity needs, after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, all nuclear reactors were progressively shut down for safety concerns. As of January 2022 there are 33 operable nuclear reactors in Japan, of which 10 reactors are currently operating.
Overview
History
Japan's rapid industrial growth since the end of World War II doubled the nation's energy consumption every five years into the 1990s. During the 1960–72 period of accelerated growth, energy consumption grew much faster than GNP, doubling Japan's consumption of world energy. By 1976, with only 3% of the world's population, Japan was consuming 6% of global energy supplies.
Compared with other nations, electricity in Japan is relatively expensive, and, since the loss of nuclear power after the earthquake and tsunami disaster at Fukushima, the cost of electricity has risen significantly.
Energy sources
In 1950, coal supplied half of Japan's energy needs, hydroelectricity one-third, and oil the rest. By 2001, the contribution of oil had increased to 50.2% of the total, with rises also in the use of nuclear power and natural gas. Japan now depends heavily on imported fossil fuels to meet its energy demand.
Oil
In the wake of the two oil crises of the 1970s (1973 and 1979), Japan made efforts to diversify energy resources in order to increase security. Japan's domestic oil consumption dropped slightly, from around of oil per day in the late 1980s to per day in 1990. While the country's use of oil declined, its use of nuclear power and Natural gas rose substantially. Several Japanese industries, for example electric power companies and steelmakers, switched from petroleum to coal, most of which is imported. Japan's proved oil reserves total an estimated 44 million barrels.
The state stockpile equals about 92 days of consumption and the privately held stockpiles equal another 77 days of consumption for a total of 169 days or . The Japanese SPR is run by the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation. Japan was the fifth-largest oil consumer and fourth-largest crude oil importer in the world in 2019.
Oil demand has been waning in Japan, especially leading up to and since the Tohoku earthquake in 2011. While oil consumption was over 5 million barrels per day (bpd) for decades, this had declined to 3.22 million bpd by 2017. As of 2016, India, Saudi Arabia and Texas have overtaken Japan in oil consumption. A further decline to 3.03 mln bpd or just under 176 million kiloliters (preliminary) was posted in 2018. Crude consumption further declined during first half of 2020 to 303/141 = 2.15 million bpd, but that figure probably doesn't include refined products that are directly increasingly imported rather than converted.
Natural gas
Japan ranked as the world's largest importer of liquefied natural gas.
Because domestic natural gas production is minimal, rising demand is met by greater imports. Japan's main LNG suppliers in 2016 were Australia (27%), Malaysia (18%), Qatar (15%), Russia (9%), and Indonesia (8%). In 1987, suppliers were Indonesia (51.3%), Malaysia (20.4%), Brunei (17.8%), United Arab Emirates (7.3%), and the United States (3.2%). In 2017, Japan consumed 4.7 quadrillion Btu (1377 TWh) of imported methane.