The global energy market is bracing for a shock as Japan seeks to replace large amounts of the country’s nuclear power capacity devastated by Friday’s earthquake.
Japan is the world’s third largest oil importer, after the US and China, and the top importer of thermal coal and liquefied natural gas, so any abrupt change in energy production could have a major impact in global commodities markets, analysts warned on Sunday.
For many Japanese the blast at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant on Saturday will reignite deep-seated distrust of the nuclear power industry following a series of major disasters.
Although Yukio Edano, the chief government spokesman, stressed that the government was taking all possible measures to contain the impact of the explosion, it did not take long for criticism to begin.
Nuclear energy experts were working on Saturday to establish the chain of events at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi facility, which suffered an explosion following Friday’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake. Experts outlined the range of possible scenarios, based on information available from official Japanese sources.
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