Mitsubishi joins Malaysian LNG

Mitsubishi joins Malaysian LNG

TOKYO (Reuters): Trading company Mitsubishi Corp and another Japanese firm have taken a five-percent stake in a Malaysian venture to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Indonesia, industry sources said on Friday.

Malaysia LNG Tiga -- a joint venture set up by Malaysian national oil company Petronas, Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Corp and the Royal Dutch/Shell group -- plans to construct the LNG plant in Bintulu on Borneo island.

Most of the five percent stake would be bought by Mitsubishi, while the name of the other Japanese company was not immediately available, the sources said.

The value of the stake was not known.

The company intends to begin LNG production by the end of 2002, producing 6.8 million tons a year.

The joint venture signed a confirmation of intent to supply up to 1.6 million tons of LNG to three Japanese end users for 20 years beginning in 2004.