The Prime Minister, Hon. Peter O'Neill CMG MP, has arrived in Japan for the start of an Official Visit that will focus on creating more export jobs, strengthening areas of development support and encouraging more cultural engagement between the two countries.
PM O'Neill is visiting Japan at the invitation of his counterpart, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The Prime Minister and Mrs Lynda Babao-O'Neill were received by an honour guard and officials from Japan's Government on arrival in Tokyo, while streets in the Government precinct displayed Papua New Guinean and Japanese flags together as a sign of unity.
"The Papua New Guinea delegation is honoured to be received by Japan with such enthusiasm for this visit," PM O'Neill said on arrival.
"Japan and Papua New Guinea are very strong friends and a continually expanding our economic and cultural relationship.
"I look forward to meeting with my friend and colleague, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tomorrow, where we will advance a matters of mutual concern for our nations."
During the afternoon of his first day in Japan, the Prime Minister is scheduled to meet with representatives from companies such as Marubeni, Sojitz and JX Nippon. He will then proceeding to a reception co-hosted by the Japan-PNG Association and the Japan-PNG Parliamentary Friendship League.
During the visit the Papua New Guinea Government will conclude agreements that include the start of visa-on-arrival for travel between the two countries, the Nadzab Airport reconstruction project, and the signing of the outstanding Port Moresby Sewerage System Upgrade Project Agreement which he said is long overdue.
"Almost 18 years ago, the Government launched a sewerage program for Port Moresby and its expansion to the Motu-Koitabu area," PM O'Neill told people in Hanuabada last week.
"However, due to some bureaucratic setbacks, we are still talking about this program with the Japanese government.
"We need action on this project and we are going to deliver this sewage system for Port Moresby and especially people of Motu Koitabu villages.
"Around the country we are expanding access to fresh water and sewerage facilities to our communities and this will be another great step forward."
The ongoing schedule for the week will include an audience for Mr and Mrs O'Neill with, Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko on Wednesday morning, and a summit meeting with Prime Minister Abe in the early evening.
The Prime Minister will further visit Soka University to meet with senior researchers and students, and will travel to the Osaka Gas LNG Receiving Terminal.
PM O'Neill is accompanied by Ms Babao-O'Neill, Ministers of State including Foreign Affairs and Immigration, State Owned Enterprises, and National Planning, and a private sector delegation of over 30 businesspeople.
To my opinion, O'Neill and the business delegation are hard selling PNG this week to Abe/JP INC.
Japan, the world’s largest LNG buyer, will see imports fall to 62mtpa by 2030 as gains in fuel efficiency and the greater use of coal and renewable energy whittle down gasdemand, the country’s energy minister said on 16 September.
The drop in LNG demand would put gas at 27% of Japan’s total fuel mix, down from 40% currently, and on a par with levels last recorded before the March 2011 disaster at Tokyo Electric’s (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant put the country on the path to greater LNG dependence.
Japan is not the only place where LNG demand is declining, at least in the short term. Major producers are in danger of losing market share around the globe to coal and renewable energy despite currently low prices for gas, said International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol.
The availability of cheap coal has contributed to a move away from LNG for utilities in Japan, South Korea and elsewhere despite downward price pressure for most of the past year.
“The oil and gas industry assumed Asian consumers would take any amount of LNG at any price. This assumption was a mistake,” Birol said during a presentation at the LNG Producer-Consumer Conference in Tokyo. “Today, in key regions in Asia, what we see is gas is losing market share and coal is gaining market share. Even major gas producers like Malaysia have decided that using coal at home and exporting gas makes more sense.”
Renewable energy is also gaining wider acceptance and starting to prove a long-term challenge to LNG consumption, Birol said, pointing to the solar power industry in India as an example. ben.lefebvre@icis.com
Coal also has the largest carbon footprint of the hydrocarbon fuels as well as the highest capex for hydrocarbon electric power generation. NG on the other hand is far more suited to distributed generation and local heat recovery allowing total thermal efficiencies in excess of 80%. What might be LNG's largest immediate problem has been its price tie to oil which got a little crazy.
Coal will be used in the foreseeable future no doubt but I'd be surprised to see Japan turn a blind eye to global warming.
