Russo-Japanese energy cooperation increasing

Energy companies sign agreement on oil and gas development.

Japan's Inpex Corporation and Russia's state-controlled oil company Rosneft have signed an agreement on oil and gas development.

Inpex, Japan's top energy explorer, and Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil explorer, have agreed to develop two oil fields off the Russian port of Magadan in the Okhotsk Sea, according to media sources. Inpex will have a one-third stake in the development.

Exploration surveys will start as early as 2017 and drilling is expected to start around the mid-2020s.

Japan now consumes a third of global LNG shipments, with Russia already accounting for 10% of its imports.