Japan opens route for US natural gas

JAPAN’S bid to join negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement may make it easier for the nation to import US liquefied natural gas (LNG) — a prospect that is raising the hackles of environmental groups.

Japan, the world’s largest LNG importer, said last Friday it wanted to be included in the accord, which encompasses 11 nations in Asia and the Americas.

Bringing Japan into a freetrade agreement might benefit companies trying to export natural gas from the US, Capital One Southcoast analyst Randy Bhatia said.

The Energy Department is reviewing 16 applications to build export terminals to ship supplies to countries that do not have free-trade agreements with the US.

Among the companies seeking to export gas are California’s Sempra Energy and Virginia’s Dominion Resources.

Cheniere Energy has approval for a facility that would begin exporting in 2015.

“Japan has been very clear that automatic access to LNG is one of the things it wants,” Ilana Solomon, a trade representative for the Sierra Club, an environmental group fighting those exports, said.

Success for Japan would mean “We’ll be paying the price here, with more fracking in our back yards, near our schools, and next to our hospitals — only to help a handful of big gas companies profit by shipping natural gas overseas,” Solomon said.

Southeast Asian nations in the negotiations with the US are Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.