Diet members are renewing the push for a ¥600 billion natural gas pipeline from Russia, which last week signed a supply deal with China, in a bid to cut energy costs after the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima.
A group of 33 lawmakers is backing the 1,350-km pipeline between Russia's Sakhalin Island and Ibaraki Prefecture, Naokazu Takemoto, the secretary general of the group, said in an interview last week. He plans to propose the project to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as early as June so it's on the agenda when Russian President Vladimir Putin visits in autumn, he added.
The shutdown of nuclear reactors after the Fukushima crisis has spurred renewed interest in the Russia-Japan pipeline link, which has been discussed for more than a decade, Takemoto said.