Study for gas link from Japan to Sakhalin gas fields

A Japanese venture is considering building a natural gas pipeline to the Russian island of Sakhalin at a cost of up to 500 bn yen ($ 4.5 bn). A study has been carried out by Japan Petroleum Exploration with four Japanese steelmakers -- Nippon Steel Corp., NKK Corp., Kawasaki Steel and Sumitomo Metal Industries. It is expected that a pipeline would probably be cheaper than transporting LNG by ship. The project would take about 10 years to complete. A pipeline linking the island, north of Hokkaido, to a site near Tokyo would extend for 2,700 kilometres (1,700 miles).