By an OGJ correspondent
NICOSIA, Apr. 16 -- With promises of funding, Japan has stepped up efforts to secure construction of a projected 4,000 km crude oil pipeline that would carry supplies from Siberian oil fields to Japan via an export terminal on Russia's Pacific coast.
Japan's National Oil Corp. Pres. Yoshiro Kamata said Wednesday that Japan is prepared to invest $1 billion in the economy of Russia's Far East if the Angarsk-Nakhodka oil pipeline is built, according to press reports.
Russia's Itar-Tass quoted Kamata as saying Japan would invest the money into the construction of an oil sea terminal and a refinery over 4 years.
Kamata's remarks reaffirmed earlier statements by Japan's Ambassador to Russia, Issei Nomura, who told a Moscow news conference Monday that "Russian-Japanese energy ties have tremendous potential, especially regarding the construction of the Angarsk-Nakhodka oil pipeline."
"We are interested in upstream support for the project as well as participating in the construction of the pipeline, and of course in buying oil. However first, we must wait for the (Russian) government decision," Nomura said.
Saying Japan had presented the Russian government with proposals for the pipeline, he declined to outline details, adding, "I have no right to publicize the nature of our proposals."
Kamata said Tokyo was ready to consider extending major long-term credits at low interest for the construction of the line.
At a meeting with Khabarovsk Region Gov. Viktor Ishayev, Kamata stressed that the Japanese ministry for economic development was interested in the project, which would considerably reduce Japan's dependence on Middle Eastern oil exports.
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, underlining the need to diversify suppliers of oil, last month said the country's reliance on Middle Eastern crudes stood at 79.9% in February, down 6 percentage points from a year earlier.
In March, the Russian government considered competing plans to build two oil export pipelines—one to Japan and another to China—but officials postponed any final decision pending the outcome of feasibility studies, due by May 1.
Officials were asked to choose between a route preferable to Japan, carrying oil from Angarsk, the easternmost point of the Russian oil pipeline complex near Lake Baikal, to Nakhodka on the shores of the Sea of Japan, and a shorter, less expensive project linking Angarsk with refineries near China's top-producing oil field complex at Daqing.
State-owned China National Petroleum Corp. already earmarked $700 million to invest in the Angarsk-Daqing project, while Russian companies said they would invest another $1 billion in building the 2,400 km pipeline (OGJ Online, Apr. 2, 2002).
