TOKYO: A group of Japanese companies plan to lay a 1,400-kilometer pipeline to import natural gas from Russia's Sakhalin island.
According to Japanese newspaper (Asahi Shimbun), sources from Tokyo Gas Co., Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. and Nippon Steel and Sumikin Engineering Co. said the companies have completed a preliminary feasibility study for the project, estimated to cost $3.7 billion to $5 billion.
The proposed pipeline would link the Sakhalin island with the Tokyo metropolitan area, running through Hokkaido and along the Pacific coast of Japan's mainland.
In Japan, demand has shot up for natural gas, fuel for thermal power generation, after nuclear power plants were taken offline following the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. (QNA)
