Japan, India agree on comprehensive energy tie-up

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Japan, India agree on comprehensive energy tie-up

Media Release

Sep. 30, 2005

 

"This is Japan's first such comprehensive energy tie-up with other

nations," Hirofumi Katase, Japan's Trade Ministry official in charge

of petroleum and natural gas.

 

Japan and India on Thursday agreed on a plan for comprehensive

energy cooperation and to finalize details after a series of high-

ranking talks, a Japanese government official said.

 

India's Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and Japan's Trade

Minister Shoichi Nakagawa agreed to jointly explore for oil and

natural gas in places such as Australia, the Middle East, Africa,

Russia and Central Asia, said Hirofumi Katase, a Trade Ministry

official in charge of petroleum and natural gas.

 

"This is Japan's first such comprehensive energy tie-up with other

nations," Katase said. The two countries will also cooperate in the

development of next-generation fuel, including hydrogen and methane

hydrate, Katase said.

 

Earlier Thursday, Aiyar told Dow Jones Newswires that India and

Japan plan to hold at least one ministerial-level meeting and two

senior official-level rounds of talks in 2006, aiming to strengthen

the two nations'' energy supply security and investments.

 

India and Japan held working-group level talks on energy on Saturday

to discuss ways to cooperate in the energy sector, Aiyar said.

 

"Japan, China and India are crucial to construct an arc of advantage

and prosperity in Asia," Aiyar said.

 

For energy-poor Japan, methane hydrate, a sorbet-like frozen methane

gas located below the seabed offshore Japan, is a highly prioritized

energy source that the country wants to develop. Tokyo will also

provide India with the know-how for building and maintaining

national strategic petroleum reserves.