Japan will start buying liquefied natural gas for an emergency reserve from January next year, Reuters has reported, citing two unnamed sources from the country’s trade and industry ministry. The purchases aim to boost Japan’s Strategic Buffer LNG program at a monthly rate of at least 70,000 tons, the sources told Reuters, for a total of at least 840,000 tons for 2026. Over the last two years, Japan has been buying LNG at a rate of 210,000 tons annually, the publication noted. Japan is the world’s second-largest importer of liquefied…