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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Russian pipeline agreement for Japan inked By Pooty and Koizumi |
| 2005-12-09 |
| From East Asia Intel, subscription. It looks like Moscow has finally halted its ballet around the route for a major pipeline from fields in Western Siberian eastward. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi signed an agreement in late November for the $11.5-billion, 2,600-mile project to carry 1.6 million barrels of oil a day to a terminus on the Pacific. The agreement was signed despite no progress on a WWII peace treaty or the return of what the Japanese call their ânorthern territories,â islands the Soviets snatched at the warâs end. Obviously, it's all about oil. Japan lobbied hard for the pipeline, hoping to cut its reliance on Mideast imports by up to 15 percent. But last summer, Putin dashed Japanese hopes for an exclusive deal when he announced that the first half of the pipeline would carry oil to China with a leg from the Pacific route to Chinaâs dwindling Daching petroleum complex in Beijingâs northwest. The Russians said work would start next July and be completed by the summer of 2008. Putinâs decision is part of a strategy of balancing increased economic relations with Tokyo against Russiaâs heavy dependence on arms and oil sales to China. Japan now accounts for only 1 percent of foreign investment in Russia. While Russia-Japan trade is expected to hit $10 billion this year, Russian trade with China will top $25 billion. The Pacific route also fits with Putinâs strategy of increasingly going after U.S. petroleum and LPG markets, and could be part of a network of other Siberian fields being developed. And there is a lot of oil out there in the Russian Far East. |
| Posted by:Alaska Paul |
| #2 :> |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-12-09 19:30 |
| #1 Be careful Japan - ala NORTH KOREA, the alibi/contingency-for-all-seasons loving Commies had planned to use pipelines to walk-in andor drive-in. Ditto for Europe, etal. - the US had caught a good number of commandos over the decades trying to penetrate by swimming thru the oil. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2005-12-09 19:28 |