Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Shizuoka Gas has decided to widen its liquefied natural gas (LNG) footprint with an investment in MidOcean Energy, an LNG player formed and managed by the U.S.-headquartered investment company EIG Global Energy Partners (EIG).
Days after Tokyo-based Idemitsu Kosan decided to pour $500 million into MidOcean Energy, Shizuoka Gas announced its intention to make an investment of $100 million in the LNG company established and managed by EIG and create a strategic partnership with this firm, which holds a portfolio of interests in LNG projects located in Australia, Canada, and Peru.
By diversifying risks across individual projects, MidOcean has established an integrated LNG value chain encompassing upstream gas field development, liquefaction, sales, transportation, and trading optimization.
The Japanese firm emphasized: “This investment enables us to participate in an LNG business portfolio that includes upstream and midstream segments, and will contribute to the expansion of our business domain in the natural gas and LNG sectors.
“Shizuoka Gas Group has developed its business by leveraging a value chain in natural gas and electricity, as well as a strong customer base supported by long-standing relationships of trust with its customers.”
The company claims to be advancing the expansion and optimization of both upstream and downstream segments of its natural gas and LNG business in Japan and overseas, including its participation in a shale gas development project in the Eagle Ford Basin in the United States, in which it invested last year.
Shizuoka Gas aims to expand its value chain in the natural gas and LNG business, from upstream to downstream, both in Japan and overseas, and to establish a business portfolio that achieves both stability and profitability.
This will be accomplished by combining the business foundation cultivated through its energy business with initiatives based on its strategic partnership with MidOcean. The company plans to continue to expand its overseas business toward the achievement of its Vision 2030.
Recently, MidOcean Energy made a move to increase its stake in an LNG project off the northwest coast of Western Australia (WA). LNG is also increasingly being used as a pawn in geopolitical power games , as illustrated by the recent events in the Middle East.