TOKYO: Shares in Japanese trading companies Mitsui Co and Mitsubishi fell on Wednesday after former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev made comments that threatened the loss of oil and gas supply to Japan.
Mitsui's shares lost 5.7 per cent, while Mitsubishi's shares were down 5.4 per cent at the midday break.
Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, wrote on Tuesday that Japan would not have oil nor gas from Russia, as well as no participation in the Sakhalin 2 LNG project.
His comments came after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at the weekend that the Group of Seven G 7 countries had agreed to capping the price of Russian oil at around half its current level.
The G 7 leaders agreed last week to impose a ban on transporting Russian oil that has been sold above a certain price in an effort to reduce Moscow's revenues and deplete its war chest, but had not mentioned a specific figure for the cap.
Russia has announced on Friday a decree that takes over full control of the Sakhalin 2 gas and oil project in the country's far east, a move that could force out Shell and Japanese investors.
About 60 per cent of the LNG it supplies under long-term contracts is shipped to Japan, making it one of the world's largest LNG projects. Mitsui and Mitsubishi have stakes of 12.5 per cent and 10 per cent in the project.