OREANDA-NEWS.  February 21, 2012. The Gazprom headquarters hosted today a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company's Management Committee and Ichiro Takahara, Director General of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy under the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

The parties discussed the current issues and prospects for deepening the Russian-Japanese partnership in the energy sector. Special attention was paid to the interaction within the Eastern Gas Program.

The meeting summed up the results of the feasibility study on the options for natural gas use near Vladivostok. It was agreed that Gazprom and the consortium of Japanese companies JAPAN FAR EAST GAS Co., Ltd were to move over to the investment rationale for the LNG plant.
Background

With its scarce domestic energy resources, Japan is the world's fourth largest energy consumer. 100 per cent of consumed gas is imported in the form of LNG, making Japan the world's top LNG importer.

On February 18, 2009 the first Russian LNG plant (built as part of the Sakhalin II project) was put into operation. The first cargo with Russian LNG reached Japan in April 2009. In 2011 Gazprom Group supplied Japan with 5 additional LNG cargoes with the total volume of 440 billion cubic meters.

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.

A consortium of Japanese companies (ITOCHU, JAPEX, MARUBENI, INPEX, CIECO) called JAPAN FAR EAST GAS Co., Ltd was established with the assistance of the Japanese Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. The consortium participants are to prepare the feasibility study on behalf of the Japanese party.

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.