OTHER NEWS - July 6, 1992

Japanese Firms Interested in Soviet Oil: About 40 Japanese companies are expected to back a Japan-Russia feasibility study to discover the extent of eastern Siberia’s untapped oil and natural gas resources, a leading financial newspaper said. Major firms such as Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Tokyo Gas Co. are among the 20 companies that have already indicated interest in joining the project, said the daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun. Other interested parties include trading houses, banks, steel manufacturers and oil companies. A formal contract with the Russian government is expected to be signed in September when President Boris Yeltsin is due to visit Japan, the newspaper said.