Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

Major Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp. plans to double the annual production capacity of a joint venture project to produce liquefied natural gas in Canada, bringing it to 28 million metric tons, by as soon as the early 2030s, the company announced Tuesday.

Mitsubishi will invest 500 billion yen in the expansion. By expanding production in politically stable Canada, the company seeks to ensure that it has a reliable supply of LNG.

Five companies, including Mitsubishi and British oil giant Shell PLC, have invested in the joint venture project, which is named LNG Canada. Shipments began in 2025, and the current annual production capacity is 14 million metric tons.

Mitsubishi is currently planning to expand LNG Canada's liquefaction plant. The company has a 15% equity share in the project, meaning its current share of production is 2.1 million metric tons, which will rise to 4.2 million metric tons after the expansion. It plans to sell LNG in various Asian countries, mainly through Japanese gas companies.

Canada offers relatively stable political conditions and transportation to Japan from there is easier than from the United States and the Middle East, which helps keep shipping costs between the countries down. As a result, Canada's prominence as an LNG exporter to Japan is growing.

----

This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.

YDN-M0000236281-1