OREANDA-NEWS.  February 22, 2013. Rosneft President and Chairman of the Management Board Igor Sechin completed a working visit to Japan during which he held talks with the management of a number of Japanese companies, including Marubeni, INPEX, Itochu, JAPEX and SODECO, reported the press-centre of Rosneft.

The parties discussed the prospect of involving Japanese companies in large-scale offshore projects of Rosneft.

Notes for editors:
Marubeni Corporation is one of Japan’s five largest general trading companies. Marubeni is one of the founders of SODECO, which represents Japan in the Sakhalin 1 consortium with a 30% interest. As an influential international trader, Marubeni supplies Rosneft crude oil and naphtha primarily to Japan. In 1997 Rosneft and Marubeni set up a company to service projects offshore of Sakhalin (Sakhalin Shelf Service).

Itochu Corp is a typical Japanese general trading company. In 1996 the company joined a project to develop the Azeri, Chirag and Gyuneshli deep-sea oil fields (ACG) in Azerbaijan and subsequently became involved in construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. In the early 2000s, Itochu participated in construction of the Blue Stream gas pipeline.

INPEX Corporation is a Japanese global oil and gas company involved in 71 oil and gas projects in 27 countries around the world.

Japan Petroleum Exploration Co, Ltd (JAPEX) explores for, produces and transports oil and natural gas in Japan and abroad. Aside from Japan, JAPEX is involved in projects in the United States, Canada, Indonesia, Iran, Libya and Russia (as a shareholder in SODECO, which represents Japan in the Sakhalin 1 consortium with a 30% interest), as well as other regions in which it has offshore interests.

SODECO was set up by Japan for involvement in the consortium developing the Sakhalin 1 project. The company’s shareholders are the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (with a 50% interest), JAPEX (15%), Itochu (18%), Marubeni (12%) and INPEX (6%).