Gazprom commissioned a study to review the possibility of partnering with a consortium of Japanese companies to build a plant in Vladivostok, Russia, to liquefy natural gas for transport to Japan.

Japan is already the world's largest importer of LNG, and this demand is expected to increase in the coming years because of the effects of last year's devastating earthquake and tsunami that resulted in a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The country has been dialing down its energy mix from nuclear power and will be utilizing greater quantities of LNG for power-generation needs.

The Japanese consortium includes Cieco, Inpex Corp., Itochu Corp., Japex Corp. and Marubeni Corp.