Energy from overseas, including Sakhalin-1, important for energy security, Japan says

TOKYO, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Securing energy from overseas, including from the Sakhalin Project, is extremely important for Japan's energy security, Japan's industry ministry said late on Thursday when asked about U.S. sanctions on a key shareholder in the Sakhalin-1 project.

Last month, Washington sanctioned Russian oil majors Rosneft ROSN.MM, a Sakhalin-1 shareholder, and Lukoil LKOH.MM in the most recent step to force the Kremlin to end the war in Ukraine. The waiver to end operations expired on November 21.

"Japan government continues to recognize that securing energy from overseas, including the Sakhalin Project, is extremely important for Japan's energy security," the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a statement to Reuters.

"We will take necessary measures to ensure that Japan's stable energy supply is not compromised," the statement added but declined to comment specifically on the sanctions' impact on the project where METI is a shareholder.

U.S. ExxonMobil XOM.N, which used to own a 30% stake in Sakhalin-1, left Russia in 2022 after the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of that year.

Before Exxon's exit, Rosneft and India's ONGC Videsh ONVI.NS owned a 20% stake in the project each and another 30% was controlled by the SODECO consortium involving METI, Marubeni 8002.T, Itochu 8001.T, Japan Petroleum Exploration 1662.T and Inpex 1605.T.