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Besides good
geopolitics that makes current news more interesting, maybe this will help Japan
get past its addiction to pouring concrete over its own landscape and give them
something to build offshore. Good
upgrade from a military invasion for natural resources! “No more Tojo”. - KWC Russia and Japan set to
back $5bn pipeline deal
By Quentin Peel in London and Andrew Jack in
Moscow, NYT, 01.10.03 Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and Junichiro
Koizumi, the Japanese prime minister, are expected to announce in Moscow on
Thursday an agreement to co-operate on a 4,000km pipeline to export oil from
Siberia to the Far East. The $5bn venture would provide the first major outlet for
Russian energy production to the east Asian market and eventually to the US west coast. This would help reduce the reliance of
east Asia - and perhaps the US - on Middle East producers. Japan views the pipeline as being of great strategic
importance to its long-term energy supplies, with planned capacity of 1m
barrels a day - nearly a quarter of current imports. A final decision will depend on calculations of the economic
viability of the Pacific
Pipeline Project,
which would run from Angarsk, west of Lake Baikal, via Khabarovsk to Nakhodka
on the Sea of Japan. The Russian government must also decide between the project
- planned by Russian state-controlled Transneft
- and a rival
scheme by Russian oil
group Yukos to supply eastern Siberian oil to China.
The Transneft scheme, which would be built on Russian territory, is believed to
be preferred by Moscow. It is likely to be favoured by the US as it will open
Russian oil supplies to a wider
market than China. "The
Japanese government is very serious about realising this project," Hirofumi Katase, director of petroleum
and natural gas at Japan's economy ministry said in Moscow on Thursday.
"Japan would also welcome US participation." Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia group, a political risk consultant that has been
involved in liaising with Washington, said: "This would suit US policy.
The driving force behind the US-Russia partnership is the desire to diversify
supply of oil away from the Middle East." The
US has begun to purchase small quantities of Russian oil over recent months. These have been seen as proof of
Washington's willingness to increase its number of oil sources. Japanese officials say if the project is shown to be
economically viable "Japan
will provide finance".
The Japan Bank for International Co-operation and NEXI, the Japanese export insurance agency, have been involved in
discussions, they said. But the
rival plans will battle for Kremlin backing. "We are committed to pursuing
the China pipeline," said Yukos. "This changes nothing in our plans.
The project is on schedule." The Yukos scheme is for a $1.8bn, 2,400km pipeline from
eastern Siberia to Daqing in Manchuria. The company, the biggest eastern
Siberian producer, has agreements for long-term contracts to supply 20m tonnes
of oil a year to China by 2005 and 30m tonnes from 2010 until 2030. http://www.nytimes.com/financialtimes/international/FT1039524375946.html outgoing mail
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