Today the Gazprom Management Committee has hosted a working meeting between Alexander Ananenkov, Deputy Chairman, Gazprom Management Committee and Yoshiyuki Iwai, Director General, Natural Resources and Fuel Department, Natural Resources & Energy Agency, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry.

Within the visit Alexander Ananenkov and Yoshiyuki Iwai, Co-Chairmen of the Joint Coordinating Committee between Gazprom and Natural Resources & Energy Agency examined the progress with executing the Agreement of cooperation between Gazprom and Natural Resources & Energy Agency and approved a Working Plan of the Joint Working Group for 2007. Particularly, the Plan foresees provision of preliminary investigations for the project to create gas chemical production in Eastern Siberia as well as sci-tech cooperation program development.

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With scarce domestic energy resources, Japan is the world’s fourth-largest country in terms of energy consumption. The country annually consumes some 80 bcm of gas the share of which stands at 13 per cent in the national energy basket and will continue increasing. Japan imports some 100 per cent of overall gas consumed in the form of liquefied natural gas and is the world’s top LNG importer.

The Framework Agreement of cooperation between Gazprom and the Natural Resources & Energy Agency of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry was signed on November 21, 2005. The Agreement stipulates major principles for bilateral cooperation in the gas sector. The parties set up a Joint Coordinating Committee aimed at executing the Agreement. The first session of the Committee was held in January 2007.