LNG reserves topped up

TOKYO: Japan’s government has asked power companies to top up their liquefied natural gas (LNG) reserves and share energy resources, a person familiar with the contingency plan says, as civilian deaths in Ukraine push Tokyo to halt Russian fuel imports.

Utilities are scrambling for already stretched energy sources as resource-poor Japan joins the West in punishing Russia, a major oil and gas producer – a search made harder when prime minister Fumio Kishida announced a ban on Russian coal and other sanctions.