01-11-05
On Oct. 31, senior Japanese and Russian
government officials agreed to speed up talks on possible cooperation in
building oil pipelines linking Eastern Siberia with the Russian Far East,
Japanese officials, said.
The accord was reached in a meeting between the visiting director general of
Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, Nobuyori Kodaira, and Sergei
Oganesyan, head of Russia’s Federal Energy Agency.
The acceleration of the talks is considered essential as Japan and Russia
want to issue a document on bilateral cooperation over the project during
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s planned visit to Japan later this month.
Japan hopes Russia will build a pipeline from Taishet near Lake Baikal to
Nakhodka on Russia’s Sea of Japan coast. But Russia has said it will first build
a branch to Chinese border, giving priority to China over Japan as the recipient
of oil supplies from the pipeline project.
In April, Moscow issued an order for the pipeline to be built from Taishet
tothe halfway point at Skovorodino near the Russia-China border.
Putin said the construction of a Pacific-bound pipeline will be contingent on
development of a new oil field in Eastern Siberia.
Source: MosNews