Japan will take all necessary steps to ensure Sakhalin-2 LNG supplies from Russia.

Japan's Industry Minister Yojimuto announced on Friday that it will take every measure to ensure a steady supply of liquefied gas from the Sakhalin-2 Russian project in response to new U.S. Sanctions.

Treasury Department announced that the United States had imposed new sanctions against Russia's Gazprombank, on Thursday. President Joe Biden is intensifying his efforts to punish Moscow for its invasion in Ukraine, before he leaves office at the end of January.

Gazprombank, one of Russia's biggest banks, is owned in part by the Kremlin gas company Gazprom.

According to a general license updated by the Treasury Department, the sanctions did not apply to transactions related to the Sakhalin-2 project, an oil and gas development in Russia's east.

Muto said at a press conference held on Friday that "the Sakhalin-2" is crucial for Japan's security of energy. He noted there was no immediate disruption, as transactions with Sakhlin-2 and Sakhalin Energy through Gazprombank are not affected by the sanctions.

He said, "We will continue providing detailed explanations to U.S. members and other G7 countries as we have done in the past and take all measures possible to ensure there are no barriers to securing stable supplies for Japan."

Separately the president of Osaka Gas (a buyer of Sakhalin-2 LNG) said that the new U.S. Sanctions will not impact its settlement process to procure the fuel.

Osaka Gas, Japan's second largest city gas provider that buys super-chilled fuels from Sakhalin-2 on a long-term basis, doesn't expect the U.S. Sanctions to affect their transactions. Masataka Fuwara, the company's president, told reporters Friday the utility did not use Gazprombank as a settlement institution. (Reporting and editing by Rashmi aich, Janane Venkatraman, and Yuka Obayashi)

(source: Reuters)