Tokyo/ Moscow – Group of 7 developed countries, known as the G7, has supported and aided Ukraine in ongoing Russia- Ukraine conflict. They imposed heavy sanctions on Russia and its oil exports to weaken the Russian economy. One of the decisions was to impose a price cap on oil purchase. However, Japan, one of the G7 countries, has decided not to compromise on energy security and bought Russian oil.
As soon as the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, the US, Japan, and Australia took an aggressive stance against Russia. Japan being a part of G7, also imposed sanctions on oil and financial transactions against Russia. To curtail the sale of Russian oil, the G7 countries approved certain sanctions and price caps, resulting in a drop in demand for Russian oil.
However, Russian oil exports have not seen much impact. The Russian energy minister has confirmed that Russia has exported oil despite the embargos. Russia has supplied oil to China, India, the Middle Eastern and other Asian countries. Now Japan has started to purchase oil from Russia above the price cap.
Moreover, Japan has a 22.5% stake in the Sakhalin-2 oil project in the extreme east of Russia, mainly through investments of Mitsui & Co and Mitsubishi Corp. This project produces crude oil and natural gas. The Japanese government has maintained the import of fuel from this project, prioritizing both the share of Japanese companies and Japan’s fuel needs. In the first 
two months of 2023, Japan purchased nearly eight million barrels of crude oil from Russia for 70 dollars per barrel.
In February, the G7 countries had put a price cap of 60 dollars per barrel for any purchase of Russian oil. At the same time, Japan has been buying at a much higher rate. Japan imports 10% of its energy demand worth 10 billion dollars from Russia. Hence, Japan had discussed this with the United States. It is found that Japan’s imports of Russian fuel have gone up by 4-5% over 2021 purchases.
Meanwhile, analysts claim that Japan importing fuel from Russia indicates that the sanctions imposed by the US have failed to meet their purpose.
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