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Russia, Japan agree on construction of liquefied gas plant in Russia’s Vladivostok

Under the document, Japan will co-finance the construction of the plant and will help find potential clients to buy its liquefied gas

VLADIVOSTOK, September 8 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian and Japan signed on Saturday a memorandum on the support of the construction of a liquefied gas production facility in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok. The document was signed by CEO of Russia’s national gas utility Gazprom Alexei Miller and Ichiro Takahara, director general of Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy.

Under the document, Japan will co-finance the construction of the plant and will help find potential clients to buy its liquefied gas. The Japanese consortium of Itochu, Marubeni, Inpex, and Japan Petroleum Exploration earlier took part in the feasibility study for this project.

The construction of the plant in Vladivostok will start in 2013 to begin the production of liquefied gas in 2017. The plant is designed to put out up to ten million tons of liquefied natural gas a year.

Japan is the world’s biggest importer of liquefied gas. In 2011, its liquefied gas imports amounted to 78.5 million tons. After the accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear plant and the subsequent shutdown of the bulk of its nuclear reactors, Japan’s demand for liquefied natural gas have been on the rise. Russian liquefied gas currently accounts for about nine percent of Japan’s annual liquefied gas imports. Japanese analysts say that the new facility in Vladivostok may satisfy up to 14 percent of the country’s annual demand.