Ambitious exploration, pipeline project may tap eastern C.I.S

This paper reports on Project Vostok, a vastly ambitious project which will by the end of the century move gas from Eastern Siberia and the Sakhalin area through North and South Korea to Japan. This system will open one of the last available frontiers on earth for exploitation of many diverse natural resources. With the start of such a project, western oil companies can see a return on their investment possibly equal to investment in other more developed areas. Eastern Siberia and the Far East of the former Soviet Union possess huge hydrocarbon and mineral reserves. Their areal extent is 3.2 million sq km, equal to more than 40% of the U.S. land area. The conception of development of the Yakutsk, Irkutsk, and Sakhalin gas fields and mineral and timber resources of the Far East exemplifies a project that encompasses many different organizations and boundaries