Russia on Wednesday opens its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, a project that will greatly increase its role as an energy exporter in the Asia-Pacific region.
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are to attend the opening of the plant, located on Sakhalin Island only about 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Japan's northern island of Hokkaido.
Aso's visit underlines the importance of the project for Japan, which has been seeking to reduce its dependence on Middle Eastern oil and gas.
"This is very good as we have tried to diversify our energy sources," Aso told reporters ahead of his trip, the first visit to Sakhalin by a Japanese prime minister since the days when Japan held the southern part of the island.
Hundreds of thousands of Japanese were evacuated from Sakhalin after the end of World War II.
Sakhalin is also near four small islands at the centre of a long-running territorial dispute that has prevented Russia and Japan from signing a peace treaty to formally end World War II.
Aso said he would discuss the islands -- called the southern Kuril islands by Russia and known in Japan as the Northern Territories -- at talks with Medvedev on Wednesday.
Ironically, the new LNG plant, located outside the port town of Korsakov, stands near the rubble of an old Japanese monument marking the landing of Japanese troops on Sakhalin in 1905.
Around 65 per cent of the plant's production will go to Japan with the rest roughly split between South Korea and the United States, according to Sakhalin Energy, the consortium behind the project.
The plant is expected to produce 9.8 million tonnes of LNG per year, or about five per cent of the world's total LNG supply, the company says.
Its opening marks the culmination of Sakhalin-2, a 20-billion-dollar oil and gas project that has been led by Russian state-run energy giant Gazprom since a controversial change of ownership in 2007.
Gazprom acquired 50 per cent plus one share in Sakhalin-2 after the project's developer, then led by British-Dutch oil major Shell, encountered major legal difficulties with the Russian government.
Shell now owns a 27.5 per cent stake in the project, while Japan's Mitsui and Mitsubishi groups own 12.5 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are to attend the opening of the plant, located on Sakhalin Island only about 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Japan's northern island of Hokkaido.
Aso's visit underlines the importance of the project for Japan, which has been seeking to reduce its dependence on Middle Eastern oil and gas.
"This is very good as we have tried to diversify our energy sources," Aso told reporters ahead of his trip, the first visit to Sakhalin by a Japanese prime minister since the days when Japan held the southern part of the island.
Hundreds of thousands of Japanese were evacuated from Sakhalin after the end of World War II.
Sakhalin is also near four small islands at the centre of a long-running territorial dispute that has prevented Russia and Japan from signing a peace treaty to formally end World War II.
Aso said he would discuss the islands -- called the southern Kuril islands by Russia and known in Japan as the Northern Territories -- at talks with Medvedev on Wednesday.
Ironically, the new LNG plant, located outside the port town of Korsakov, stands near the rubble of an old Japanese monument marking the landing of Japanese troops on Sakhalin in 1905.
Around 65 per cent of the plant's production will go to Japan with the rest roughly split between South Korea and the United States, according to Sakhalin Energy, the consortium behind the project.
The plant is expected to produce 9.8 million tonnes of LNG per year, or about five per cent of the world's total LNG supply, the company says.
Its opening marks the culmination of Sakhalin-2, a 20-billion-dollar oil and gas project that has been led by Russian state-run energy giant Gazprom since a controversial change of ownership in 2007.
Gazprom acquired 50 per cent plus one share in Sakhalin-2 after the project's developer, then led by British-Dutch oil major Shell, encountered major legal difficulties with the Russian government.
Shell now owns a 27.5 per cent stake in the project, while Japan's Mitsui and Mitsubishi groups own 12.5 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.
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