Toru Matsui, senior executive managing officer at Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co, announced on Wednesday that the firm would not be exiting the Sakhalin-2 liquified natural gas (LNG) project in the Far East of Russia, due to the importance of the project to Japan’s energy security.

At an annual general meeting, he explained that, “We have no plan to exit the project at the moment,” adding that there are no issues with the project, and it continues to supply Japan with critically needed LNG.

He noted, “We decided last year to keep our stake in the Sakhalin-2 after consulting with the Japanese government as the project supplies about 9% of Japan’s LNG imports.”

Although some foreign investors, such as British Shell, chose to exit their stakes in the Sakhalin-2 project following the onset of Russia’s military actions in Ukraine, Mitsui, along with Mitsubishi, retained their 22.5% combined stake in the project. Other long-term customers of the Sakhalin-2 project in Asia, such as South Korea, have continued to purchase gas from the project.

Russia began the process of transferring the project from the original Bermuda-based operator, Sakhalin Energy, to a domestic Russian firm, Sakhalin Energy LLC. The Russian government allowed shareholders to acquire stakes in the new operator proportionate to their old stakes.

Shell gave notice that despite owning 27.5% minus one share in Sakhalin Energy, it would not be seeking a stake in the new entity. The two Japanese firms retained their stakes, transferring them to the new operator. Russian state energy company Gazprom holds a 50% stake in Sakhalin Energy LLC.

As one of the largest LNG projects in the world, Sakhalin-2 supplies about 4% of the global market in LNG.