Japan has informed the United States of its intention to hold on to its shares in the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Koichi Hagiuda said on Saturday after talks in Washington.
"There were calls for us to leave [the Sakhalin-2 project], but the withdrawal would mean that we cede our share to third countries and Russia makes a huge profit. We have explained to the US side that we want to keep status quo, and I think we have reached an understanding," Hagiuda told a press conference after the meeting, according to NHK.
Hagiuda and Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa represented Japan at the so-called 2+2 talks, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo representing the US side. The parties discussed energy security, including supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG), as well as advanced technologies and infrastructure projects.
In mid-July, Japanese media reported that the Japanese government remained eager to keep Japan involved in the Sakhalin-2 project, which accounts for nine percent of Japan's total LNG imports.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree in late June creating a new project operator that would take control of Sakhalin-2 from Sakhalin Energy Investment Co, a joint venture of Gazprom, Royal Dutch Shell, Mitsui and Mitsubishi. Gazprom owns a majority stake of 50% plus one share. Shell has promised to sell its 27.5% stake, while Japanese companies Mitsui and Mitsubishi reportedly plan to hold on to their 12.5% and 10% stakes.
Shell's withdrawal from Sakhalin-2 and other joint projects in Russia prompted it to report an expected write off of $4-5 billion in assets in April.
The Sakhalin-2 project is concentrated around two massive oil and gas reserves in Russia's Far East in the northeast Sakhalin shelf in the Sea of Okhotsk. The Piltun-Astokhskoye reserve is contains mainly oil, while the Lunskoye reserve holds mostly gas. The infrastructure includes three offshore platforms, an integrated onshore processing facility, an oil shipping terminal and an LNG plant with a capacity of 9.6 million tons per year. Hydrocarbons were discovered off Sakhalin in the 1980s, with development starting in the mid-1990s and production kicking off in 1999.
Japan has spent months resisting calls from its US and European allies to wean itself off of Russian gas. Last month, Mitsui OSK Lines director Takeshi Hashimoto told the Financial Times that Japan has no choice but to buy natural gas from Russia due to the sharp rise in global energy prices, and limited opportunities for the Asian nation in the area of nuclear energy. The businessman stressed that the gas Japan gets from Russia is comparatively cheap thanks to long-term contracts, and that it is required to meet the country's basic electricity requirements.
Earlier this month, Hagiuda asked the US and Australia to ramp up their LNG deliveries to Tokyo.