Led by Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Management Committee, Gazprom’s delegation has completed a working visit to Japan, signing a heads of agreement with the Natural Resources & Energy Agency of the Japanese Economy, Trade & Industry Ministry.

Gazprom will coordinate with the Natural Resources & Energy Agency its actions aimed at deeper cooperation with Japanese firms in the sci-tech and production sectors. The Agency, on its part, will back Japanese companies in establishing & promoting partnership ties and implementing joint projects with Gazprom.

The parties will jointly scrutinize issues in relation to the construction of new gas processing and refining facilities in eastern Russia, organization of exports of natural gas, oil and petrochemicals & gas derivatives (including gas-to-liquids output) from Russia to Japan and joint production of dimethyl ether. The parties will also look into the possibility of launching said businesses in Russia, with the use of Japanese technologies and financing sources provided by the Agency.

The agreement stipulates interaction within Japanese firms’ investment projects for eastern Russia’s hydrocarbon resources exploitation as well as within Gazprom’s investment projects in Japan, with a focus placed on setting up in Russia joint ventures engaged in equipment & materials manufacture for the Russian oil & gas industry needs.

To implement the agreement, Gazprom and the Natural Resources & Energy Agency will establish a Joint Coordinating Committee.

In the course of the visit Alexey Miller held meetings with Yorihiko Kojima, President & CEO of Mitsubishi Corporation, Motoyuki Oka, President & CEO of Sumitomo Corporation, Shoei Utsuda, President & CEO of Mitsui & Co., Ltd and Akio Dobashi,President & CEO of Sojitz Corporation. The parties underscored that Gazprom and its Japanese counterparts had gained a vast experience of fruitful cooperation, to be potentially used for implementing new prominent projects.

“Cooperation with Japan has played a vital role for the Blue Stream project. We’re currently looking into ways of creating additional gas transmission capacities for this pipeline. Japanese companies will be invited to take part in a pipe supply tender for the offshore section of the North-European gas line. In addition Japan-developed equipment and technologies can be possibly utilized for the Shtokman development. And yet this is not a full list of potential joint businesses. I’d like to express my confidence that our cooperation will be mutually beneficial and successful,” maintained Alexey Miller.

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With scarce domestic energy resources, Japan is the world’s fourth-largest country in terms of energy consumption. The country annually consumes some 80 bcm of gas the share of which stands at 13 per cent in the national energy basket.

Japan imports some 100 per cent of overall gas consumed in the form of liquefied natural gas and is the world’s top LNG importer. In 2002, the country imported 54 mln t (75.6 bcm) of LNG largely originating from Indonesia, Malaysia and a string of Near Eastern countries.