Russian, Japanese Companies in Gas Deal

Novatek, Russia's second biggest gas producer, said it has signed agreements with Japan's Mitsui & Co, Mitsubishi Corp. and Marubeni Corp. to cooperate in liquefied natural gas (LNG) and other energy sectors. Japan, lacking fuel resources, is the world's largest importer of gas while Russia wants to boost its global LNG market share, currently less than 5%, Reuters reported. Novatek's Chief Executive Leonid Mikhelson said the agreements focused on potential gas production, gas liquefaction and liquefied natural gas transport. Novatek is interested in LNG trading with the three Japanese trading companies, he said. Marubeni said in a statement that it would explore opportunities to develop upstream and midstream areas for the Arctic LNG-2 project which Novatek is newly implementing, while Mitsubishi said the agreement with Novatek implies consideration of alliances in "gas and other areas". "The Asia Pacific region will grow by the fastest rates ... and the Japanese companies, with which we signed the agreement, are present on this market," Mikhelson said.