- MOSCOW: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says that Japanese companies can participate in production of natural gas in eastern Russia.
- Speaking in the Pacific island of Sakhalin, Putin said Saturday that Russia’s gas monopolist, Gazprom, will divert some of its Europe-bound deliveries of liquefied natural gas to Japan.
He said that the delivery of more than 1 million tons of LNG will “really help” the energy-starved nation, following its devastating earthquake and tsunami that also damaged its nuclear plants.
He said Gazprom will increase its supplies of natural gas to Europe by 60 million cubic meters a day to compensate for the diversion.
Moscow has already pledged to supply coal and electricity to Japan.
