Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ambassador, for appearing in front of us today.
I noted that the G7 communiqué that was agreed to in Hiroshima indicated the need for increased deliveries of liquefied natural gas and acknowledged the need for greater investments in LNG projects.
You mentioned that Japan is reliant on energy imports for 87% of its energy needs. You also mentioned that Japan will be purchasing about 2.1 million tonnes of the 14 million tonnes that are coming online when LNG Canada goes live. Bloomberg recently reported that the long-term LNG supply contracted by Japanese buyers will decrease by 30% or 55 million tonnes from 2022 to 2030, which is only a short few years from now. Last November, Bloomberg also reported that the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is pushing Japanese buyers to sign more long-term LNG contracts to insulate Japan from future supply shocks as well as potential harsher sanctions against Russian LNG.
In that context, can you tell us how interested your government is in securing additional LNG supplies in terms of long-term contracts or spot markets from Canada? Is LNG Canada enough, or would Japan be interested in purchasing even more LNG from Canada?