The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) today announced a package of measures aimed at ensuring stable supply of natural resources and fuel that should be given top priority in the current situation in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

METI identified priority measures "to ensure the stable supply of natural resources and fuel" in consideration of the situation after the Great East Japan Earthquake and the "Action Plan to Stabilize Energy Supply-Demand" (decided by the Energy and Environment Council on November 1, 2011).

In accordance with this measure, METI will make steady progress in the development of relevant budgetary measures, legislation and strategies in order to ensure that a stable supply structure for natural resources and fuel is established.

• Development of a natural resource acquisition strategy jointly by the public and private sectors
  The government and the private sector, including resource-consuming industries and related agencies, should jointly identify the types and the amounts of mineral resources that Japan needs, along with the countries producing such resources, and establish a natural resource acquisition strategy by around next spring. The government will implement well-organized resource diplomacy in accordance with this strategy.
• Establishment of a support structure for strategy implementation
  To facilitate the acquisition of resource-related interests by Japanese companies, the government will enhance JOGMEC's capacity to supply risk money and will concentrate coal and geothermal resource development operations in JOGMEC.
• Increased preparedness for demand in isolated disaster areas
  Assuming the situation where external distribution to the affected area is disrupted after a disaster, with the supply facilities there also shut down, the government will improve the regional capacity to respond to a disaster and manage until the restoration of the distribution network.

• Outline of the "Priority Measures to Ensure Stable Supply of Natural Resources and Fuel” (PDF:146KB)
• Full text of the “Priority Measures to Ensure Stable Supply of Natural Resources and Fuel" (PDF:175KB) (Updated on February 6, 2012)

December 20, 2011

Policy Planning Division, Natural Resources and Fuel Department, Agency for Natural Resources and Energy