TOKYO, March 13. /TASS/. Japanese companies Mitsui and Mitsubishi, who are major shareholders of the Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Russia’s Far East, will continue their participation, Japan’s Nikkei magazine said.
"Japan's position on its interests in Sakhalin is greatly different than that of Europe and the US," the magazine quoted an anonymous energy executive as saying.
According to documents obtained by Nikkei, the withdrawal of Japanese companies will be dangerous for the Japanese side and beneficial for Russia and China.
Earlier, Japan’s Mitsui told TASS it planned to hold consultations with the government and other involved sides on the decision of the British-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell to quit the Sakhalin-2 project on LNG production. Mitsubishi, which together with Mitsui owns stakes of shares in Sakhalin-2, sticks to the same position.
Sakhalin-2 is being implemented in Russia’s Sakhalin under a production sharing agreement. Sakhalin Energy is its operator. Gazprom has a controlling stake (50% plus one share), Mitsui has 12.5%, Mitsubishi - 10%. The majority of LNG produced within the project flows to Japan.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aims to demilitarize and denazify the country. The Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure, therefore there are no threats to the civilian population. Subsequently, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and some other countries announced sanctions against Russian companies and individuals.