Japan Wants USA LNG

I wonder if LNG hawk Bill Walker is on a plane to sell his idea of Valdez LNG to the Japanese?  From Bloomberg (LINK):

Japan’s senior vice minister of trade and industry, Seishu Makino, asked U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu at a meeting yesterday in San Francisco to increase LNG exports, Akinobu Yoshikawa, deputy manager for the Petroleum and Natural Gas Division, told reporters today in Tokyo.

“I believe we gained the U.S.’s understanding to some extent,” said Yoshikawa. “We can’t buy LNG from the U.S. unless the Department of Energy approves LNG plant owners to export. There is one plant that recently won the approval and there are two others in progress.

Japan is a motivated buyer, a long term customer, they can make X120 pipe - where's the photos of the happy Alaskan trade delegation to Japan? Come on guys - time to get your head in the game.

The only good news in the story is that Gulf Coast LNG exports to Japan will sponge up cheap shale gas and improve to overall prospects for any North American gas project.