SINGAPORE — Cash-rich China is using a period of relatively low oil prices to improve its energy security and ensure that its economy has the oil-based fuels needed to sustain growth when recovery from the slump takes hold.
Should Japan, which is currently far more reliant on imported oil than China, adopt a similar large-scale strategy? It would mean providing billions of dollars in discounted government loans to Japanese national oil companies bidding for oil in major producing countries.
In its latest annual white paper on energy, the government in Tokyo has called for more investment to help develop oil resources in producing nations, recommending that Japan become a stakeholder to secure a stable supply.