Japan reassured of stable gas supplies from Brunei

His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam met Mr Yukio Hatoyama, the Prime Minister of Japan, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Singapore yesterday morning.

During the meeting, His Majesty congratulated Mr Hatoyama on his appointment as Prime Minister of Japan. His Majesty welcomed Japan's chairmanship of Apec in 2010 and expressed support for the agenda of the meeting.

According to a Japanese foreign ministry statement obtained by AFP, Brunei reassured Japan at the bilateral summit on Saturday that it will receive stable long-term supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Sultanate.

Brunei accounts for about 10 per cent of Japan's LNG imports. Japan has virtually no energy resources and relies heavily on imports from the Middle East for its oil and gas needs.

"I seek your cooperation in the supply of liquefied natural gas and the development of our friendly bilateral ties," Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told His Majesty on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit, the statement said.

His Majesty replied that "we've had a good relationship in the past two decades on the supply of LNG, and there will be no problems with supply in the future," the statement said. Japan annually imports 60 million tonnes of LNG from countries led by Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia. It has made efforts to diversify its sources of energy. - Borneo Bulletin (15th November 2009)


close