Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida plans to discuss energy markets on a trip to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar next week, aiming to provide Japanese technologies for net zero transition.
Energy-deficient Japan relies on Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for most of its oil, while part of its liquefied natural gas needs, which is the world's largest, is covered by Qatar.
Kishida will visit the three countries on July 16-19 as "it is very important to build a personal relationship of trust with the leaders responsible for each country for years to come", said a senior official at Japan's foreign ministry.
The official told reports that "Crude oil prices are high due to the situation in Ukraine, so it is a very important purpose to exchange views on the current oil market and LNG market. It is very important to exchange views with these countries on stabilizing the energy market."
Japan is actively developing greener and renewable energy technologies as the country wants to be carbon neutral by 2050, and the prime minister will also try to promote Japanese know-how as energy-producing countries also have ambitious green targets.
"One of the achievements we expect from this visit is cooperation in the new energy field on environmentally friendly energy sources such as hydrogen and ammonia, while making use of Japan technologies, thereby further broadening cooperative relations in the energy field," the official indicated.
Japanese trading firm Marubeni Corp agreed in this March, to study clean hydrogen production in Saudi Arabia together with the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, as Riyadh is looking to add other types of energy sources, including cleaner fuels and renewables, to diversify its oil-based economy.
