On Friday Japan’s Economy and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura announced that SODECO, the Japanese energy company would be retaining its 30% stake in the new legal entity Russia is creating to manage the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project in Russia’s far-east.

He noted, “It is an extremely important project” to help ensure Japan’s energy security, as he welcomed the news of the decision.

SODECO will have until November 11th, the deadline Russia had set, to officially inform Moscow of its intentions. SODECO is 50% owned by the Japanese government, with private companies holding the remainder of shares, including trading firms Itochu and Marubeni, and energy companies Inpex and Japan Petroleum Exploration.

In October Moscow had announced it would be reorganizing the ownership and management entities of the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project. Production had been shut down by US oil major Exxon Mobil, as they quit the project amid Western sanctions placed on Russia in response to the conflict in Ukraine. Moscow announced a new legal entity would be formed to take ownership of the stakes of foreign firms in the project, as well as manage the project, and that foreign stakeholders would be allowed to take stakes in the new entity, or withdraw and be reimbursed for the value of their stake, minus the profits lost due to the halt in production.

Other foreign participants in the project, such as Japan’s SODECO and India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), were allowed one month to make the decision on whether they would roll over their stakes into the new entity. Earlier this week, ONGC announced it would be retaining its stake in the project. Exxon chose to fully exit, it is believed at a total loss.

Japanese companies Mitsubishi and Mitsui recently announced they would be retaining their stakes in the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project, which has seen a similar reorganization scheme implemented, transferring its ownership to a new operator.