Japan and Russia agreed to build a liquefied natural gas
plant at Vladivostok
in a deal signed Sunday.
Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yukio Edano, whose portfolio
includes energy, signed the memorandum of understanding with Russian Energy
Minister Alexander Novak on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic
cooperation forum.
Russian gas giant OAO Gazprom
and a Japanese consortium comprising Itochu Corp. , Japan Petroleum Exploration
Co., Marubeni Corp. (8002.TO) and Inpex Corp., have been conducting a
feasibility study since April for a 10 million-metric-ton-a-year LNG export
terminal at Vladivostok, about 1,000 kilometers northwest of Tokyo.
The cost of the project is estimated around 1 trillion yen, Japanese media
said.
However, a senior Japanese government official who was present at the signing
told Dow Jones Newswires that the MoU was only a signal of intent and bilateral
state support, and that the firms will decide on how the costs are to be divided.
The development would be in line with Russia's strategy to transport natural
gas from Sakhalin and eastern Siberia via pipelines to Vladivostok, where the
gas will be cooled for shipping to countries in the Asia-Pacific region.