Fossil Fuel Resource of Japan:-

At the end of the 20th century, most of the world lives in what can be termed the fossil fuel era. We, especially those of us who live in the advanced industrialized nations, depend upon fossil fuels

for almost every facet of our daily existence; for transport, for space heating and cooling, to produce electricity, to run our factories, and in agriculture to produce our food. Further, in addition to being a primary energy source, there are over 500,000 known uses of fossil resources as raw material in the chemical industry to make such products as plastics, paints, harmaceuticals, fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals, and so on.

It is clear that a large proportion of our energy needs are met by oil. Calculating from the table, we can see that the world's dependence on oil for its primary energy consumption is 39.5 percent, and that Japan's dependence on oil is 52.8 percent. It should also be noted that Japan's dependence on Middle East oil-producing countries for imports of oil was 85.2 percent in 1999, up from 71.5 percent in 1990. Japan was the world's second largest oil consumer in 1997 after the United States at 855 MTOE, the next largest consumer being China, just ahead of the Former Soviet Union  at 191
MTOE.

We can see how important oil is when we compare it with the fuel it has largely replaced, coal:

• Oil has a higher energy content per unit weight and burns at a higher temperature than coal.

• Oil  generates from 1.3 to 2.45 times the amount of economic value per joule than coal does.
 

• Liquid fuels  are easier and cheaper to store and transport.
 

• Liquid fuels can be used with precision and flexibility, are easier to use on both large and small scales
when compared with coal, generally require less attention, and are cleaner than solid-fuel systems.

• Liquid fuels are used in internal combustion engines. For example, diesel locomotive uses only one-fifth of the energy  that a coal-powered steam engine needs to pull the same train.

Since much of the world's powered transport systems use oil, any industry that requires large amounts of material to be transported or that requires outdoor motive power  will have a systemic dependence on oil. Japan has a large and efficient electrified train system, and yet only about 2 percent of the final energy consumption used for all transportation in Japan is supplied by electricity.

Japan's ability to maintain economic activity and feed her population is thus dependent upon regular supplies of oil from overseas, especially the Middle East. Since fossil resources are limited, oil supplies will eventually cease. Based on current trends, it should be possible to estimate how far into the future Japan can be assured of uninterrupted oil supplies.