Japan will ensure a stable and steady energy supply to the country even after the U.S. imposed fresh sanctions related to Russia's Arctic LNG 2 project, said Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
The Arctic LNG 2 project is run by the Russian firm Novatek (NVTK.MM), with a joint ten per cent ownership held by the state-owned Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) and Japanese trading firm Mitsui & Co (8031.T).
A combined 2 million metric tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year is expected to be delivered by the project to Mitsui and JOGMEC.
The most recent economic penalties, which also include a mild price ceiling on Russian oil and fuel exports, are a part of a number of steps the United States, Europe, and its allies have taken against Russia in reaction to its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
According to Reuters, the penalties don't affect the project or its shareholders, but a Japanese government source claimed they might make it harder for Mitsui and JOGMEC to support it and might even cause Arctic LNG 2 production to be delayed.
The United States has imposed sanctions on a number of Russian businesses, one UAE firm that will provide architecture, engineering, and construction services for the project, as well as two storage vessels that will travel the Northern Sea Route and two Russian shipbuilders that will operate two LNG floating storage units for transhipments of Arctic LNG.