- Japan needs Russian oil to survive so it can't cut off ties with Moscow, Itochu's CEO told the FT.
- There are "all kinds of ways" Moscow can keep exporting despite sanctions, he said in an interview.
Japan cannot survive unless it keeps importing oil and gas from Russia, which makes it impossible for the country to cut off ties with Moscow, the head of a leading trading company has said.
Alongside other G7 countries, Japan has been working on measures to hit Russia's energy revenue over its war against Ukraine. But there are ways for Moscow to get round sanctions, Masahiro Okafuji told the Financial Times — suggesting that could allow Tokyo to get the imports it needs.
"Unlike Europe or the US, Japan depends on overseas for almost all of its energy needs, so it's not possible to cut off ties with Russia because of the sanctions," the CEO of Warren Buffett-backed Itochu said in an FT interview published Monday.
"In reality, we cannot survive unless we continue to import from Russia, even if the volumes are smaller."
Japan has stayed in line with its Western allies on imposing sanctions on Moscow, even as it has stressed how dependent it is on Russian imports of gas and oil for its energy security.
Its government has backed a US-led plan to cap the prices of Russian crude supplies. The cap would bar refiners, traders, and financers from handling Russian oil cargoes and deliveries, unless the contracts were below a set price.
But there are "all kinds of ways" Russia could still remain a supplier despite being shut out from European and other Western markets, Okafuji told the FT. He pointed to the Asian buyers like China and India keen to snap up Moscow's discounted crude.
Okafuji's comments echo those of Qatar's energy minister recently. Saad al-Kaabi told the FT he can't envisage a future with zero Russian flows to Europe, given its reliance on the imports.
One way Japan has kept ties with Russia is through the Sakhalin-1 large energy project. The country's trade minister said Tuesday that a Japanese consortium will hold onto its stake in the oil and gas effort after US giant Exxon Mobil made its exit.
The Sakhalin-1 project aims to produce oil and natural gas in the Chayvo, Odoptu, and Arkutun-Dagi fields off the east coast of Sakhalin Island in Russia, alongside Itochu and India's state-run energy company ONGC Videsh.