The Gazprom headquarters hosted today a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company's Management Committee and Chikahito Harada, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Russian Federation.

The discussion centered on the current issues and prospects for the cooperation deepening among Gazprom and Japanese energy companies.

The parties highlighted that implementation of the joint feasibility study for the project aimed at constructing a LNG plant near Vladivostok had been a success that made it possible to start the investment rationale stage within the project.

Besides, the meeting participants pointed out the importance of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies to Japan from the Sakhalin II project.

Based on the meeting results, Alexey Miller and Chikahito Harada expressed shared the opinion that joint projects in the oil and gas sector would contribute significantly to promoting the Russian-Japanese energy dialogue.

“Over the last 12 months the demand for LNG in Japan has grown 18 per cent and shows an upward trend similarly to the share of gas in the Japanese energy balance in general. Our joint efforts seek to ensure stability and predictability of natural gas supplies to the Japanese market,” noted Alexey Miller after the meeting.

Background

With its scarce domestic energy resources, Japan is the world's fourth largest energy consumer. Nearly 80 billion cubic meters of gas are annually consumed in the country. The share of gas in the Japanese energy mix stands at 14 per cent. Almost 100 per cent of the consumed gas is imported in the form of LNG, making Japan the world's top LNG importer.

In January 2011 Gazprom and the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy under the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry signed the Agreement of Cooperation envisaging preparation of a joint feasibility study on the options for natural gas use near Vladivostok as well as for natural gas and gas chemicals transmission from the Vladivostok region and their sales among potential customers in Asia-Pacific.

In April 2011 in furtherance of the above mentioned document Gazprom and JAPAN FAR EAST GAS Co., Ltd signed the Agreement on the joint feasibility study development for an LNG plant near Vladivostok.

Japanis a major consumer of the Sakhalin LNG (Sakhalin II project). Some 65 per cent of the Sakhalin II output is contracted out by four largest Japanese companies engaged into power generation as well as five Japanese gas companies under long-term contracts (more than 20 years). The share of the Sakhalin gas within the Japanese LNG consumption is about 8 per cent.