Japan may increase purchases of Russian LNG by 9% by 2026 – Kommersant

Russian Consul General in Sapporo Sergey Marin said that Japan has not withdrawn from the Arctic LNG-2 project, but since March 2022 the country has frozen new investments in it due to sanctions. According to Mr. Marin, “if everything goes according to plan”, by 2026 Japan will increase purchases of Russian liquefied natural gas by 2 million tons per year, by 9%.

“The consortium of Mitsui & Co and the Japanese national oil and metals company JOGMEC retained a 10% stake in Novatek’s Arctic LNG-2 project. With the only clarification that since March last year, Japan has frozen new investments in this project due to financial sanctions,” Sergey Marin told RIA Novosti.

The Consul General noted that the Arctic LNG-2 is operating, but the production of liquefied natural gas has not yet begun. “The first line should be launched by the end of this year, and the second and third in 2024 and 2026. If everything goes according to plan, then Japan will add about 2 million tons of LNG per year to the share that it currently receives from Russia, that is, about 9% of total imports,” he added.

Arctic LNG-2 is a $21.3 billion Novatek project. It provides for the construction of three LNG production lines on the Gydan Peninsula with a capacity of 6.6 million tons per year each. At the end of 2021, the overall readiness of the project was estimated at 59%, the progress achieved on the first stage was 78%. At the end of March last year, the Nikkei, citing sources, reported that Japan had frozen new investments in Arctic LNG-2 as sanctions prevented money transfers from banks.

Milena Kostereva