TOKYO, February 13. /ITAR-TASS/. Japan is set to expand its companies’ presence in liquefied natural gas projects on Russia’s Far Eastern island of Sakhalin and Vladivostok, a city in the Primorsky Territory, and to provide financial assistance to these projects, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshimitsu Motegi told a meeting of the budget commission of the parliament’s lower house on Thursday.
“At the state level we would like to support these projects financially, in particular with assistance from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation,” he said.
Japan is in the list of countries importing first 5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas from Russian state-run oil company Rosneft’s new LNG plant in Sakhalin to be delivered in 2018-2019.
In late January Sakhalin region governor Alexander Khoroshavin visited Japan to take part in the International Symposium on Roadmap to Asia Super Grid. Japan demonstrated the strongest interest in prospects for LNG cooperation with Russia.
Japan imports 100 percent of its consumed natural gas, mainly in LNG, ranking the world’s number one in LNG import. Last year Japan’s LNG import reached a record high of 87.49 million tonnes.