Rising Crude Oil Prices Prompt Japan to Launch Energy Conservation Campaign

Record high crude oil prices have prompted Japanese industrial sector companies to control costs by using other forms of fuel or implementing energy conservation measures and are expected to boost sales of energy-saving products.

Comprehensive foreign news reported on January 4 that record high crude oil prices have prompted Japanese industrial sector companies to control costs by using other forms of fuel or implementing energy conservation measures.

Petrochemical companies and paper manufacturers are switching fuels. Mitsui Chemicals Inc. and others are upgrading their core petrochemical mix to increase the use of fuels other than naphtha produced from crude oil. OJI Paper Co., Ltd. plans to roughly halve its heavy oil usage by 2010 by increasing boilers that use fuel produced from recycled plastics.

Ocean shipping companies are fine-tuning their strategies to curb heavy oil consumption. At Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd., instead of calling at ports where large, fuel-guzzling container ships carry only small amounts of cargo, cargo will be delivered via smaller ships to ports where container ships will dock.

Meanwhile, automakers and appliance makers expect higher oil prices to boost sales of energy-saving products.

Mitsuo Kinoshita, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Corp., said the market shift toward fuel-efficient Japanese cars will continue.

Honda Motor Co. Executive Vice President Koichi Kondo also said rising crude oil prices would not necessarily have a negative impact on the company because Honda focuses on the production of small cars.