Gazprom begins work Far East pipeline
Thursday, 14 May 2009
TOKYO, May 13 (AFP): Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has signed an agreement with Japanese partners to build a pipeline that will supply Japan and other Asian countries with natural gas from northern Sakhalin Island.
The pipeline will at first "secure energy resources for domestic consumers in (Russia's) east," Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said late Tuesday at a briefing that followed a Japanese-Russian business forum in Tokyo.
"After that, the delivery of gas and its processed products from Vladivostok into the Asian-Pacific region, including Japan, will become possible," Miller told reporters.
He said Gazprom, Japan's Agency of Natural Resources and Energy and two Japanese companies had signed an agreement Tuesday to study the construction of processing facilities and the project's financing.
In a separate statement, Gazprom named the two Japanese partners as Itochu Corporation and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co.
The pipeline, which Miller said would be completed in 2011, will give Japan access to the energy resources of Sakhalin Island, which lies north of Hokkaido and which it occupied until the end of World War II.
"The realisation of this project can lead to our cooperation with the region's countries..., secure additional amounts of energy resources for them and strengthen Gazprom's position in these new competitive markets," Miller said.
Separately, Russia's oil state firm Rosneft is considering building a major oil refinery in Primorsky Krai, the eastern Russian province's governor, Sergei Darkin, told reporters.
Rosneft plans to start building the 14-billion-dollar complex in September, Darkin said, adding it would process 20 million tons of crude oil a year.
The pipeline will at first "secure energy resources for domestic consumers in (Russia's) east," Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said late Tuesday at a briefing that followed a Japanese-Russian business forum in Tokyo.
"After that, the delivery of gas and its processed products from Vladivostok into the Asian-Pacific region, including Japan, will become possible," Miller told reporters.
He said Gazprom, Japan's Agency of Natural Resources and Energy and two Japanese companies had signed an agreement Tuesday to study the construction of processing facilities and the project's financing.
In a separate statement, Gazprom named the two Japanese partners as Itochu Corporation and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co.
The pipeline, which Miller said would be completed in 2011, will give Japan access to the energy resources of Sakhalin Island, which lies north of Hokkaido and which it occupied until the end of World War II.
"The realisation of this project can lead to our cooperation with the region's countries..., secure additional amounts of energy resources for them and strengthen Gazprom's position in these new competitive markets," Miller said.
Separately, Russia's oil state firm Rosneft is considering building a major oil refinery in Primorsky Krai, the eastern Russian province's governor, Sergei Darkin, told reporters.
Rosneft plans to start building the 14-billion-dollar complex in September, Darkin said, adding it would process 20 million tons of crude oil a year.