OREANDA-NEWS. Mitsui & Co., Ltd. announced that Mitsui, through its newly established 100% subsidiary in the U.S.A., entered into a natural gas liquefaction tolling agreement and a joint venture agreement with Sempra Energy ("Sempra").

Sempra is planning an LNG export project at Cameron in Louisiana, U.S.A. A 100% subsidiary of Sempra, Cameron LNG LLC ("Cameron LNG"), currently owns and operates the Cameron LNG receiving terminal and plans to develop liquefaction facilities with the export capability of 12 million tonnes per annum (MTPA)(4 MTPAx3 trains). The total development cost is expected to be in the range of \\$ 9-10 billion. First LNG production is targeted in the latter half of 2017, after receiving related approvals including export license for Non-FTA countries by Department of Energy (DOE).

Based on the natural gas tolling liquefaction agreement, Mitsui will secure 4 MTPA of tolling capacity for 20 years. In addition, based on the joint venture agreement, Mitsui will acquire a 16.6% equity interest in Cameron LNG Holdings LLC, which will be established as a holding company of Cameron LNG (*). Other equity holders will be Sempra (50.2%), a joint venture between Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha and Mitsubishi Corporation (16.6%) and GDF Suez (16.6%).

Global demand for natural gas and LNG is expected to grow in the medium to long term. Mitsui already owns upstream shale interests in Marcellus and Eagle Ford areas which contribute to natural gas production in U.S.A. In addition, through the above mentioned agreements, Mitsui will contribute to stable LNG production as well as stable energy supply to the global market including Japan.