Japan's Marubeni Corporation Expects Russia to Be Reliable Gas Supplier

The company CEO noted the role of Russia’s geographic position and its "abundant resources," as well as governmental support in being a key gas supplier, in the Asia-Pacific region.

VLADIVOSTOK (Sputnik) – Fumiya Kokubu, the president and the CEO of Japan’s general trading Marubeni Corporation, on Friday placed high expectations on Russia as a gas supplier to the country.

"I’d like to place high expectations on Rosneft as a reliable gas supplier to Japan," Kokubu said at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Russia's Vladivostok.

Kokubu noted the role of Russia’s geographic position and its "abundant resources," as well as governmental support in being a key gas supplier, in the Asia-Pacific region.

In 2012, Russian and Japanese economic ministries and gas companies signed the joint Vladivostok liquefied natural gas plant project, expected to carry an annual capacity of up to 15 million tons.

First doubts about the project’s anticipated launch in 2018 emerged late in 2014, when the Russian economy began suffering from the aftereffects of economic sanctions.

In late June, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said that the launch of the stalled Russian-Japanese project was not a priority for the company and would not be implemented in the near future.

Japan was one of the countries to introduce sanctions against Russia for its alleged involvement in the Ukrainian crisis. Moscow continuously denied the allegations.