YAKUTSK, August 14 (RIA Novosti) - Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) has said it plans to join oil deposit exploration and development in the Republic of Yakutia in northeast Russia, the republic's administration said on Thursday.

At a meeting with Yakutia's deputy industry minister, Albert Kondratyev, managers from JOGMEC displayed interest in the development of Yakutia's oil and gas industry as the East Siberia - Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline is expected to come online soon, the republic's ministry for external relations said.

The ESPO pipeline is slated to pump up to 1.6 million barrels of crude per day from Siberia to Russia's Far East and then onto China and the Asia-Pacific region.

The pipeline's first leg, estimated at $11 billion, is expected to be commissioned in late 2009.

The second leg will stretch for 2,100 kilometers (1,304 miles) from Skovorodino to the Pacific. It will pump 367.5 million barrels of oil annually. The capacity of the Taishet-Skovorodino pipeline, being built as part of the project's first leg, is also expected to increase to 588 million barrels from the initial 220.5 million bbl.