Image credit: Gazprom

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The heads of Gazprom and Mitsui met in St. Petersburg on Thursday to discuss the status of their LNG cooperation.

Alexey Miller, chairman of Gazprom's Management Committee, and Tatsuo Yasunaga, CEO of Mitsui, held a working meeting where they focused on their cooperation in small- and mid-scale LNG, as well as the construction of the third train of the Sakhalin II LNG plant.

It was noted that, as part of those efforts, an advisory body had been established for the purpose of evaluating potential joint projects.

Back in September, the two companies signed a framework agreement where they agreed to collaborate in the production, transport and marketing of small- and mid-scale LNG in Japan, as well as LNG bunkering in the Sea of Japan.

Prior to that, in December 2016, the two companies had also inked an agreement of strategic cooperation that included the LNG bunkering of ships and the Sakhalin II project expansion.

Gazprom and Mitsui are partners in the Sakhalin II project, which includes Russia's only active LNG plant. Sakhalin II is operated by Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd, which is owned by Gazprom (50 percent plus one share), Shell (27.5 percent minus one share), Mitsui (12.5 percent), and Mitsubishi (10 percent).

In 2016, the LNG plant produced upward of 10.9 million tonnes of LNG, exceeding the annual design capacity by over 1.3 million tonnes.