{"id":28465,"date":"2012-03-22T10:12:47","date_gmt":"2012-03-22T14:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/fx\/2012\/03\/22\/japans-energy-landscape-a-year-after-the-tsunami\/"},"modified":"2012-03-22T10:12:47","modified_gmt":"2012-03-22T14:12:47","slug":"japans-energy-landscape-a-year-after-the-tsunami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/2012\/03\/22\/japans-energy-landscape-a-year-after-the-tsunami\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s Energy Landscape a Year After the Tsunami"},"content":{"rendered":"<div align=\"left\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\ntweetmeme_style = 'compact';\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/tweetmeme.com\/i\/scripts\/button.js\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-28427 \" title=\"Japan\u2019s Energy Landscape a Year After the Tsunami\" src=\"http:\/\/www.investmentu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/japan-energy-landscape-after-the-tsunami.jpg\" alt=\"Japan\u2019s Energy Landscape a Year After the Tsunami\" width=\"220\" height=\"220\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A year after the tsunami, Japan is trying to get the country back on track. But there\u2019s a long road ahead. How is Japan going to reshape its energy future?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>On March 11, the world paused to reflect the one-year anniversary of Japan\u2019s tragic tsunami.<\/p>\n<p>Over 15,800 lives were lost from this single event. It\u2019s estimated over 3,000 people are still missing.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know about you, but disasters like this remind me to really appreciate the life I have. There are some incredible survival stories that still send chills up and down my neck every time I read them.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Japan is working hard to figure out a way to get the country back on track. But there\u2019s a long road ahead.<\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest challenges&#8230; How is Japan going to reshape its energy future?<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Japan\u2019s New Energy Outlook<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Over the past year, the tsunami forced Japan to depend much more on fossil fuels&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports hit an all-time high in January and jumped <strong>28%<\/strong> during 2011.<\/li>\n<li>Coal imports for electricity generation increased more than <strong>26%<\/strong> in January from a year earlier and increased nearly 8% last year.<\/li>\n<li>Japanese imports of crude oil exploded <strong>350% <\/strong>this month compared to March 2011. Overall oil consumption increased 9%, or by 275,000 barrels per day, over the year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Barclays Capital says, \u201cNeither the Japanese government nor environmentalist groups are happy about relying more heavily on fossil fuels.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s pretty much guaranteed Japan\u2019s dependency on fossil fuels will continue to surge for several years.<\/p>\n<p>In January, Japan\u2019s trade deficit hit a record high of $7 billion.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, all but two of its <a title=\"The Future of Nuclear: Is Thorium a True Threat to Uranium?\" href=\"http:\/\/www.investmentu.com\/2011\/September\/thorium-the-future-of-nuclear-power.html\" target=\"_blank\">nuclear reactors<\/a> are shutdown and renewable energy only accounts for 2% of its electricity output.<\/p>\n<p>Before the tsunami, Japan was the world\u2019s third-largest producer of nuclear power. It provided 30% of the nation\u2019s entire energy needs. Today, there\u2019s plenty of debate about whether or not the country will ax its nuclear energy program altogether.<\/p>\n<p>If this happens, <a title=\"How to Profit From the Fastest-Growing Energy Sector\" href=\"http:\/\/www.investmentu.com\/2011\/October\/renewable-energy-the-fastest-growing-energy-sector.html\" target=\"_blank\">fossil fuel imports<\/a> would likely stay at record highs for years to come.<\/p>\n<p>This is simply the new reality Japan must deal with. It\u2019s going to be a tough challenge for the country for a long time.<\/p>\n<p>But for companies like <strong>Total S.A.<\/strong> (NYSE: <a href=\"http:\/\/quote.morningstar.com\/Stock\/s.aspx?t=TOT\" target=\"_blank\">TOT<\/a>), Japan\u2019s new energy landscape provides unique opportunities to profit&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Total S.A.: A Backdoor Play on Japan<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Total S.A. is already a major oil and gas company.<\/p>\n<p>Based out of France, the company has a market cap of $126 billion, and owns and operates major energy projects all over the world.<\/p>\n<p>In Indonesia, it\u2019s the country\u2019s leading producer of natural gas.<\/p>\n<p>According to <em>The Jakarta Globe<\/em>, Total produces 30% of Indonesia\u2019s <a title=\"Offshore Oil and Gas Production is Alive and Booming\" href=\"http:\/\/www.investmentu.com\/2011\/September\/offshore-oil-and-gas-production-booming.html\" target=\"_blank\">gas production<\/a> and has 14 trillion cubic feet of reserves.<\/p>\n<p>Much of this comes in the form of LNG, which Indonesia is the second-largest exporter in the world of. And Japan is currently Indonesia\u2019s biggest LNG customer.<\/p>\n<p>Rigzone.com reports Japanese \u201cLNG imports are expected to remain the largest incremental gainer in 2012.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In other words, as Japan continues to ramp up its demand of <a title=\"The Five Factors Moving Oil Prices This Year\" href=\"http:\/\/www.investmentu.com\/2012\/January\/the-five-factors-moving-oil-prices-this-year.html\" target=\"_blank\">fossil fuels<\/a>, especially LNG, Total will be one of the first companies to benefit from the extra spending.<\/p>\n<p>Good Investing,<\/p>\n<p>Mike Kapsch<\/p>\n<div>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?a=gGHlpTFWW4I:zHVkFn2Lc-8:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?a=gGHlpTFWW4I:zHVkFn2Lc-8:V_sGLiPBpWU\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?i=gGHlpTFWW4I:zHVkFn2Lc-8:V_sGLiPBpWU\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?a=gGHlpTFWW4I:zHVkFn2Lc-8:qj6IDK7rITs\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?d=qj6IDK7rITs\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?a=gGHlpTFWW4I:zHVkFn2Lc-8:gIN9vFwOqvQ\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?i=gGHlpTFWW4I:zHVkFn2Lc-8:gIN9vFwOqvQ\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?a=gGHlpTFWW4I:zHVkFn2Lc-8:F7zBnMyn0Lo\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/InvestmentU?i=gGHlpTFWW4I:zHVkFn2Lc-8:F7zBnMyn0Lo\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/InvestmentU\/~4\/gGHlpTFWW4I\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Article by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.investmentu.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Investment U<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A year after the tsunami, Japan is trying to get the country back on track. But there\u2019s a long road ahead. How is Japan going to reshape its energy future? On March 11, the world paused to reflect the one-year anniversary of Japan\u2019s tragic tsunami. Over 15,800 lives were lost from this single event. It\u2019s &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/2012\/03\/22\/japans-energy-landscape-a-year-after-the-tsunami\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Japan\u2019s Energy Landscape a Year After the Tsunami&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28465\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}