Japan and Russia agreed late Tuesday to proceed on prospective oil and gas projects in Russia's Far East and East Siberian regions, including the planned LNG project at Vladivostok, a Japanese government official said Wednesday.
They will also move forward on oil and gas projects that would be mutually beneficial, he added.
During the government-level inaugural oil and gas talks in Moscow Tuesday, senior officials from both countries agreed to hold the second round of talks in the first half of 2012 in Japan, the official said.
These talks are held in response to a proposal from Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin in March, in the wake of the devastating March 11 earthquake in Japan. Under the framework, Tokyo and Moscow will have joint working group sessions on oil and gas affairs on a regular basis.
The talks on Tuesday comprised of senior officials from Russia's Ministry of Energy, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry as well as Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Officials from Russian energy companies Gazprom and Rosneft made presentations on projects and areas of cooperation with Japan. Representatives from the North Asian country's Inpex Corp., Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., or Japex, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, Itochu, Marubeni, Chiyoda and Toyo Engineering were also present at the talks.
In addition, Japanese investment companies such as Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, Moscow has offered more LNG to Japan due to the extended nuclear shutdown triggered by ongoing problems at Fukushima.
During the talks on Tuesday, the Japanese and Russian government officials reaffirmed to move forward with the planned LNG project in Vladivostok in Russia's Far East, the official said.
The two countries are conducting a complete feasibility study on the LNG project, CNG and gas chemicals projects at Vladivostok, following an agreement in January. The study includes the pre-front end engineering and design phase for the LNG project.
Talks on the planned Vladivostok gas projects accelerated after the March 11 earthquake.
Japan Far East Gas Co., a newly launched joint venture, and Gazprom have signed an agreement to examine the possibility of a 10 million mt/year LNG project, CNG and gas chemical projects at Vladivostok, Platts reported earlier.
Japex holds a 32.5% stake in Japan Far East Gas, with Itochu holding a 32.5% stake in the Japanese joint venture, while 20% is held by Marubeni, 10% by Inpex and 5% by Itochu Oil Exploration Co, an Itochu subsidiary.
Separately, METI and Rosneft are also forming joint working groups to discuss in detail their cooperation in East Siberia, including oil and gas projects. The start of working groups are part of an agreement made during a meeting between METI and Rosneft in Moscow May 26, the first official meeting after they signed a memorandum of understanding in March 2008.
Under the MOU, METI and Rosneft were to consider Japanese participation in East Siberian upstream projects as well as the construction of a refinery to be built near the port of Nakhodka.
East Siberia holds around 10% of Rosneft's proved oil reserves, according to the company's website.
Rosneft is planning to build a 200,000 b/d refinery and petrochemical complex near Nakhodka, close to the terminus of the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline, and is looking for a foreign partner.
