Gazprom’s delegation, led by the company’s CEO Alexey Miller, paid a visit on Wednesday to Japan prior to the official visit of Shinzo Abe, Japanese Prime Minister to Russia scheduled for late April 2013.
“ The working meetings took place with Toshimitsu Motegi, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry and Ichiro Takahara, Director General of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy under the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, ” Gazprom said in a statement.
“ The parties discussed the expansion of the Russian-Japanese bilateral cooperation in the energy sector, primarily, within the projects for natural gas export to Japan.
A focus of the discussions was placed on the Vladivostok-LNG project that might start supplying liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Japan from 2018, ” the statement noted.
“ The negotiating parties highlighted the successful cooperation between Gazprom and Japanese energy companies within the Sakhalin II project. In addition, special attention was paid to the prospects for increasing Russian LNG supplies to Japan, ” Gazprom added.
As a part of the visit, Alexey Miller met with the heads of Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Itochu Corporation, JGC Corporation, Chiyoda Corporation, where they also disscussed the LNG plant construction near Vladivostok.
[mappress] LNG World News Staff, April 18, 2013; Image: Gazprom