Reuters: Russia's Gazprom says Japan suggests gas pipeline to Tokyo

Russia's top natural gas producer Gazprom is studying a suggestion from Japan to build an undersea gas pipeline to Tokyo, its Chief Executive Alexei Miller was quoted as saying on Monday.

"We have an offer from the Japanese side. It is about a gas pipeline to Hokkaido and, possibly, to Tokyo, and it is also about our participation in (Japan's) gas distribution and power energy ... " Miller was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

"We haven't answered yet," he added, speaking in Beijing on the sidelines of an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Interfax said.

The construction of a gas pipeline between the two countries, which has been mooted for decades, could face several obstacles, including a dispute over islands taken by Russian forces at the end of World War Two that has prevented Moscow and Tokyo from signing a formal peace treaty.
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