Japan will not pull out from the Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Russia despite the withdrawal of other companies over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday. “It is an extremely important project in terms of energy security as it has contributed to the long-term, stable supply of inexpensive liquefied natural gas,” Kishida said in a parliamentary meeting, Kyodo News reported. Kishida added that Japan would increase efforts to reduce reliance on Russian energy in coordination with the Group of Seven (G7) advanced countries’ plan. Russia is Japan’s fifth-largest LNG supplier, accounting for about 8 percent of the country’s consumption. The Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project in the Russian Far East was one of Japan’s main LNG supply sources, with an annual capacity of 9.6 million tons. Japan’s Mitsui and Mitsubishi each hold 12.5 and 10.5 percent stakes in the Sakhalin-2 project, while Russia’s state-run …