MOSCOW, March 23 (UPI) -- Moscow is examining ways to increase the amount of oil and natural gas it exports to Japan to compensate for Japan's energy deficit, officials said.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin announced that Moscow aims to double the amount of oil it exports to Japan to about 130 million barrels, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.
"We have agreed that we will boost energy supplies to Japan in the short term," he was quoted as saying.
In terms of natural gas, Russian gas company Gazprom said it was sending about 100,000 tons of liquefied natural gas to Japan. Gazprom Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller said his company was examining contracts and the redirection of some LNG supplies to Europe to meet new demand from Japan.
Japan is coping with an energy deficit after a magnitude-9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami crippled parts of the country's nuclear power sector.
Japan is the fourth-largest energy consumer in the world but produces very little of its own energy. It's the largest importer of LNG in the world.
