Japan’s trading house Mitsui & Co has completed the acquisition of an unconventional gas asset in Texas with access to the US Gulf Coast LNG export terminals and ammonia plants.
Mitsui said in a statement on Monday it has purchased this asset named Tatonka, which has about 46,500 acres, via its unit Mitsui E&P USA from US oil and sas E&P companies, Sabana and Vanna.
The company did not provide further details of the deal.
Mitsui’s unit will drill wells to evaluate the well performance and develop and operate the asset aiming for full-scale development after 2026, it said.
In the US, where demand for natural gas is expected to increase due to the start-up of new LNG projects and growth in demand for electricity, Mitsui is also promoting liquefaction and export of US natural gas to global markets, and methanol production businesses using natural gas as feedstock, the company said.
In addition to proactively pursuing upstream development projects, Mitsui will strengthen the natural gas value chain, including adjacent businesses, and work toward achieving further low-carbon solutions and decarbonization through the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and other measures, Mitsui said.
Mitsui says natural gas and LNG are playing an important role as “real solutions” for energy transition, and the company will further promote its global natural gas and LNG businesses.
Earlier this year, Japan’s city gas supplier and LNG importer, Tokyo Gas, and Mitsui joined forces to deliver a bio-LNG cargo from Sempra Infrastructure’s Cameron LNG terminal in the US to Japan.
Mitsui is already a partner in Sempra’s Cameron LNG export plant in Louisiana.
Last year, it also bought a 92 percent stake in an unconventional gas asset in Texas with access to the US Gulf Coast LNG export terminals and ammonia plants.
Besides the US, Mitsui is participating in LNG projects throughout the world, in Abu Dhabi, Australia, Qatar, Oman, Russia, Indonesia, and Mozambique, according to its website.