In another sign of shifting energy demand, and Japan's creeping trend of hollowing out as manufacturing shifts to China, Exxon Mobil Corp was reported negotiating a deal with China National Petroleum Corp under which all natural gas from the offshore Sakhalin-1 site will be shipped to China rather than Japan. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun said such a deal would make for a radical departure from original plans to sell all of its natural gas to Japan by building a direct 1,500km pipeline.