Japan's trade ministry and Russia's biggest oil company, Rosneft (ROSN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research), have agreed on a framework for cooperation that paves the way for Rosneft to work with Japanese companies in oil development and technology.
Japan struck a similar deal for joint gas sector work with Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) in November 2005.
Japanese trade ministry officials said specific oil projects have yet to be worked out, though the development of eastern Siberia is one possible area for cooperation.
"That would help secure oil supplies to feed the Pacific Ocean pipeline," Masato Sasaki of the Japanese trade ministry's natural resources and fuel department told reporters.
In 2005, Russia and Japan agreed to construct an oil pipeline from eastern Siberia to the Pacific ocean.