Japan, Russia Sign $7B LNG Plant Facility

Setting aside a longstanding territorial dispute, Japan and Russia have forged ahead to continue building a $7 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Vladivostok spurred by Asia's growing demand for the chilled fuel.

The two countries' respective heads of state, Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Russian President Vladimir Putin, signed over the weekend the monumental arrangement at the close of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit. The total worth of the cooperation deal was $13 billion, along with other projects.

The facility will have a projected capacity of 10 million metric tonnes annually, according to Itochu Corp., which in April 2011, agreed to study building an LNG plant in Vladivostok, a coastal city in Russia's Far East, with Russia's state-controlled OAO Gazprom (GAZP), not only Russia's biggest but also the world's largest gas firm.

"The project will have a great meaning for developing the eastern part of the Unified Gas Supply System of Russia as well as raising Russian gas supplies to Asia-Pacific markets including Japan," Alexei Miller, Gazprom's chairman, said in a statement.

"I would like to emphasize that the Japanese market has an advantageous size and is considered a top priority in the Far East," Gazprom's chairman added.

Russia needs the facility to support plans to veer away from dependence on the European export market, where demand is currently weak as Western economies slow.

Japan, meanwhile, happened to hunt for new supply destinations as it shifts away from nuclear power following the 2011 Fukushima disaster. In 2011 alone, Japan used 83 million tonnes (91.49 million tonnes) of LNG.

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