Japan’s Mitsui & Co said on Tuesday nothing has been decided on a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the United Arab Emirates, after the Nikkei reported it was teaming up with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) on it.
The Nikkei reported ADNOC would have a stake of around 60% and Mitsui 10% of the $7 billion LNG project at Ruwais, adding Mitsui’s investment is estimated to be several tens of billions of yen.
Other oil majors Shell, BP and Total Energies are also expected to invest, the report said.
A Mitsui spokesperson said nothing had yet been decided when asked about the report. ADNOC and Shell declined to comment. BP and TotalEnergies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The planned Ruwais LNG project, to the west of Abu Dhabi city, will help ADNOC reach its goal of doubling its LNG production capacity. It currently has liquefaction capacity of about 6 million metric tons per annum at its Das Island facility.
Demand for natural gas soared as Europe scrambled to secure supplies to replace Russian gas in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
The Ruwais plant will have electric-powered processing facilities and run on renewable and nuclear grid power, making it one of the lowest carbon intensity LNG facilities globally, ADNOC has said. It will have two 4.8 mtpa LNG liquefaction trains when completed.
ADNOC has big ambitions in gas and LNG, which along with renewable energy and petrochemicals, it sees as pillars for its future growth.
It has eyed acquisitions of foreign companies to help boost its gas portfolio.
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi, Yousef Saba, Mariko Katsumura and Deep Vakil; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Louise Heavens)