Tag - energy

 
 

ENERGY

Jera's Hekinan thermal power station in Hekinan, Aichi Prefecture. Jera gets about 2 million metric tons of LNG per year from Russia's Sakhalin-2.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 31, 2025
Japanese utilities say they can replace Sakhalin-2 if supply interrupted
The United States this month urged Japan, along with other Russian energy buyers, to stop imports as it pushes the Kremlin towards ending the war in Ukraine.
The USS Gravely, a U.S. Navy warship, is seen departing the Port of Spain on Thursday. The U.S. warship arrived in Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday for joint exercises near the coast of Venezuela.
WORLD
Oct 31, 2025
As U.S. blows up drug boats, Venezuelan oil continues to flow
“Shadow tankers,” which transport sanctioned or illicit Venezuelan oil, are still coming and going.
Itsunori Onodera, tax chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (right), and Kazuhiko Shigetoku, tax chief of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, speak to reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2025
Japan could scrap gasoline tax surcharge this year, LDP says
The ruling party had considered keeping the surcharge in place at least until mid-January in consideration of the gasoline industry.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reportedly turned down a request from the U.S. to cease imports of liquefied natural gas from Russia.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 30, 2025
Takaichi pushed back on U.S. request to ban Russian gas imports, sources say
Russian LNG accounts for nearly 9% of Japan's total LNG imports, with companies Mitsui and Mitsubishi holding stakes in the Sakhalin-2 project in Russia's Far East.
Solar panels at the Baofeng Agriculture-Photovoltaic Integration Industrial Base near Yinchuan, Ningxia autonomous region, China
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 27, 2025
China’s solar self-discipline spurs turnaround at silicon makers
The recovery saw a 50% surge in polysilicon prices after Beijing began lambasting cutthroat atmosphere in tech sectors such as solar.
New industry minister Ryosei Akazawa speaks during an interview at the ministry on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Oct 24, 2025
Minister eyes stricter regulations on large-scale solar farms
Ryosei Akazawa has pointed out that improperly installed mega solar power plants pose challenges for local communities.
An oil refinery in Russia. Oil prices jumped around 5% to a two-week high after the U.S. imposed sanctions on major Russian suppliers Rosneft and Lukoil.
BUSINESS
Oct 24, 2025
Oil surges 5% after U.S. sanctions Russian firms Rosneft and Lukoil
The U.S. said it was prepared to take further action as it called on Moscow to agree immediately to a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Chugoku Electric Power's Shimane nuclear power station in the city of Matsue. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is expected to push for the accelerated revival of nuclear power as an energy source.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 23, 2025
Nuclear power at heart of new prime minister's energy policy
Imported fossil fuels cover 60% to 70% of Japan's electricity generation and are a source of inflation that has undermined support for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
King Bubaraye Dakolo of the Ekpetiama Kingdom in Bayelsa State, southern Nigeria, poses for a photograph in Lagos on Oct. 13.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Oct 22, 2025
'What is the value of a human life?' In Nigeria, oil giant Shell may find out.
Bubaraye Dakolo, the monarch of Ekpetiama in Nigeria, is suing a global oil giant over one of the largest corporate environmental liabilities in history.
Wind turbines along a beach in Happo, Akita Prefecture, in September 2024
BUSINESS
Oct 17, 2025
Akita urges quick resale of offshore wind sites after Mitsubishi pulls out
The fledgling offshore wind power industry is grappling with high interest rates and material costs, as well as a pushback against green policies in some countries.
A Hindustan Petroleum oil refinery in Mumbai. Executives at four companies that account for more than 80% of India’s oil-processing capacity say they were caught off guard by U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks that the South Asian nation would halt buying Russian crude.
BUSINESS
Oct 17, 2025
India refiners to trim Russia oil buying as Trump sows confusion
India has flip-flopped between defying the U.S. and crimping Russian imports in response to pressure from Washington to cut back.
The Sakhalin-2 project is vital to Japan's energy security as it accounts for about 9% of its LNG imports.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 16, 2025
U.S. expects Japan to stop buying Russian energy, Bessent says
Russia's Sakhalin-2 project remains vital to Japan's energy security as it accounts for about 9% of its liquefied natural gas imports.
Kansai Electric Power plans to carry out geological and other surveys in Mihama, Fukui Prefecture, home to its Mihama nuclear power plant, as groundwork for next-generation reactors.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Oct 15, 2025
Kansai Electric to conduct surveys for new nuclear reactors
The government's renewed push for nuclear power comes amid a surge of new facilities with high electricity consumption, notably data centers and semiconductor plants.
New export restrictions include large-scale lithium-ion batteries used for energy storage as well as cathode and anode materials and battery manufacturing machinery, all technologies where China has a robust global lead.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 13, 2025
China’s new weapon in U.S. trade talks: Batteries
New rules require battery companies to receive licenses from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce before exporting their goods, allowing Beijing to selectively weaponize exports.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings plans to decommission some reactors at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, excluding the No. 6 and No. 7 units.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2025
Tepco mulls decommissioning some Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactors
It would mark the first reactor decommissioning at the plant, which straddles the city of Kashiwazaki and the village of Kariwa in Niigata Prefecture.
A woman holds a flashlight during partial power cuts following a Russian attack on Ukrainian energy facilities, in central Kyiv on Dec. 13, 2024.
WORLD
Oct 9, 2025
Russian strikes knock out more than half of Ukraine gas production
Ukraine’s gas infrastructure has come under increasingly intensive missile and drone strikes since the beginning of this year.
High voltage transmission towers in Tokyo. Power traders are fueling a boom in weather data, which helps them to anticipate sudden price swings.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 9, 2025
Energy firms snap up weather services for trading edge in Japan
Weathernews is among a handful of companies cashing in on demand for meteorological data.
Solar panels at the Gujarat Solar Park in Gujarat, India
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Oct 8, 2025
Global renewable power output overtakes coal for the first time, report says
Curbing coal power generation is regarded as vital by most scientists to meeting global climate targets.
The Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field and an adjoining solar power farm in the town of Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, in March 2021. Japan's forward-looking reforms are embedding climate risk management into the core of corporate decision-making.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 6, 2025
Japan’s blueprint for climate finance sets global standard
While no country has all the answers, Japan is demonstrating what sustained, organized action on mobilizing finance for the clean energy transition looks like in practice.
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 6, 2025
Japan’s new leader to make nuclear center of energy strategy
A pro-nuclear stance would continue the policies of previous administrations, which have pushed to build new units and restart reactors.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell