Wall Street Daily: Is a Russia-Japan Natural Gas Deal Next for Putin?

Recognizing that sanctions against Russia hold little weight, a natural gas deal more than a decade in the making between Russia and Japan may be next on Putin’s agenda. This deal is also a top priority for many Japanese politicians.

A group of 33 lawmakers is pushing hard to revive efforts for a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Japan. The expectation is that the pipeline will be a key item on the docket when Putin and Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, meet this fall.

The nearly $6-billion pipeline would stretch from Russia’s Sakhalin Island to Japan’s Ibaraki prefecture, northeast of Tokyo. Natural gas, produced by Gazprom (OGZPY), from Sakhalin would be transported via the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline to Japan.

The pipeline is expected to transport as much as 20 million cubic meters (mcm) of natural gas annually.
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