Osaka, Mitsui team up

Osaka, Mitsui team up

TOKYO (Dow Jones): Osaka Gas Co. said Tuesday it will team up with Mitsui & Co. to form a 30-year forest plantation project in Western Australia starting in 2001.

It will be the first overseas afforestation project conducted by a Japanese city gas company, Osaka Gas said.

"Through this overseas afforestation project, we expect to get carbon dioxide emission rights," although no specific scheme on this has been decided yet, a spokesman for Osaka Gas said.

Osaka Gas and Mitsui will in October set up a joint venture, Eco Tree Farm Pty., in Melbourne. Capitalized at A$3 million, Eco Tree will be owned 70 percent by Osaka Gas and the remaining 30 percent by the Mitsui group.

Osaka Gas and Mitsui plan to establish a 100 hectare plantation for eucalyptus trees each year and to expand it to a total 1,000 hectare site by year 2022. The expansion of the site will continue until 2030.