China, Japan to benefit from US shale gas success

The cost of fossil fuel imports will stabilize, and may become cheaper, benefiting both China and Japan, amid increased energy exports from the US, said Yukari Yamashita, a director with Japan's Institute of Energy Economics on Thursday.

She made the comments during the China-Japan Joint Symposium on Asia Oil and Gas held in Beijing.

"Global energy consumption will increase 1.5 fold over the next 30 years," said Yamashita.

"Asia, particularly, will see a remarkable expansion in energy demand and raise its import dependence rate, increasing its presence as an energy consumer in the international energy market."

Because of the rapid development of shale gas exploration in the US, a net fossil fuel export increase will have a great impact, she said.

The expansion of unconventional natural gas production will lower energy prices generally.

Japan is working on finding a new energy structure after the Fukushima nuclear accident and China's energy demand is increasing rapidly, which requires the two countries to work more closely with each other in many sectors in the energy industry, said Yamashita.