Japan Plans Gas Pipeline from Russian Far East

Tokyo Gas Company, Japan Petroleum Exploration Company and Nippon Steel & Sumikin Engineering Company are planning to build a $5 billion gas pipeline Russia's far eastern Sakhalin Island to an industrial hub near Tokyo, various media outlets reported Wednesday.

The companies are working on the details of the project and further reports indicated that implementation may take about five to seven years. The 1,400 kilometer pipeline is expected to carry about 16-20 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas.  

Reuters reported a Tokyo Gas spokesman as saying, "We consider it important to diversify feedstock procurement sources and as part of looking at possible supplies, we, along with Japan Petroleum Exploration and Nippon Steel & Sumikin Engineering, held a study session. No formal decision had been made.”

He declined to give details of the studies, including the price tag, other than to say the companies had compared the costs of importing natural gas by pipeline with bringing it in by tanker in the form of LNG, Reuters added.