Gazprom looks to Japan for LNG sales 10 (UPI) -- A natural gas deal between the Japanese government and Gazprom has "great meaning" for Russian interests in the region, an executive said. Gazprom Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller signed a memorandum of understanding with Japanese officials on the sidelines of the summit for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum for a liquefied natural gas project in Vladivostok, Russia. "It will have a great meaning for developing the eastern part of the Unified Gas Supply System of Russia as well as raising Russian gas supplies to Asia-Pacific markets including Japan," Miller said in a statement. The plant could produce as much as 10 million tons of LNG per day. Full capacity is expected by 2016 with about 70 percent of the LNG designated for the Japanese market, Gazprom said. Japan in May shut its last operating nuclear reactor briefly for maintenance, leaving the country without nuclear power for the first time in more than 40 years. The country's crude and fuel oil demand for power generation is expected to be around 700,000 barrels per day from July through September because of the nuclear power shortage. "The Asia-Pacific region is the most receptive market in the world, and within the next few years the gas volumes delivered there by Gazprom will surpass the volumes supplied to Europe," said Miller.