japan

Houston-based Contango Oil & Gas Co. has closed the sale of its 10% limited partnership interest in Freeport LNG Development LP to Turbo LNG LLC, an affiliate of Japan’s Osaka Gas Co. Ltd., for approximately $68 million, the company said Tuesday.

To build its presence in the U.S. offshore, Itochu Corp. has purchased Range Resources Inc.’s Gulf of Mexico (GOM) natural gas-rich assets for $155 million. Japan’s fourth-largest trading company said it plans to invest about $170 million [Y20 billion) this year in the United States to build its U.S. gas business.

As the field of would-be West Coast liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal proponents has gotten more crowded, one of the early developers, Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp., has had to push back the initial terminal start date by nearly four years. Its current joint plans with subsidiaries of ConocoPhillips to open a terminal in Long Beach, CA harbor target 2011 for the first commercial operations, Mitsubishi’s COO for the project said Wednesday.

Chevron Corp.’s Australian unit has signed a “heads of agreement” with Japan’s Osaka Gas Co. Ltd. to deliver 1.5 million metric tons/year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Gorgon Project beginning in 2011. The parties also are discussing a possible sale of equity interest in the project, which is jointly owned by Chevron (50%), Royal Dutch Shell (25%) and ExxonMobil Corp. (25%).