japan

British Columbia (BC) Premier Christy Clark used a trade mission to Japan to give formal political support this week to the industry lineup to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals on the province’s northern Pacific coast.

Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. and the U.S.-based Gas Technology Institute (GTI) have formed an alliance intended to help Japanese companies participate in unconventional gas-related businesses.

Japan and Canada will engage in talks over the potential for future exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Canada to Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported.

The state of Alaska and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that could advance a large-volume natural gas pipeline and related liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility to commercialize the state’s stranded gas reserves.

Ministers from Japan and India meeting in Tokyo Monday agreed for the liquefied natural gas (LNG)-consuming countries to work together to secure what they believe would be more equitable pricing for supplies.

Japan’s Inpex Corp. said Tuesday it plans to expand its exploration, development and production activities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GOM) after disclosing that it was the mystery buyer of a stake in the promising Lucius deepwater development. Subsidiary Teikoku Oil (North America) Co. Ltd. purchased the 7.2% participating stake in Lucius from operator Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

Devon Energy Corp. last week secured $1.4 billion from Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. in exchange for a 30% stake in 650,000 net acres in the Permian Basin’s Cline and Midland-Wolfcamp shales.

Devon Energy Corp. on Wednesday said Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. agreed to pay $1.4 billion for a 30% stake in 650,000 net acres in the Permian Basin’s Cline and Midland-Wolfcamp shales. The news offset the company’s 2Q2012 earnings report, which indicated profits were down sharply from a year ago on lower commodity prices.

Woodside has accepted an offer from Japan Australia LNG (MIMI Browse) Pty Ltd (MIMI) to purchase a minority portion of its equity in the proposed Browse LNG Development in western Australia for US$2 billion with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2012. MIMI is to take a 16% interest in the East Browse joint venture (JV) and 8% interest in the West Browse JV, giving it an estimated 14.7% interest in the Browse development. Woodside’s assumed unitized interest in the Browse liquefaction and export project would fall from 46% to 31.3%. Woodside would remain operator of the development. Woodside has also accepted an offer from MIMI for a long-term sales and purchase agreement for about 1.5 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year from the Browse development. The price was said to be in line with “traditional Asian pricing for conventional LNG projects.” The parties will jointly market co-mingled LNG volumes to the Asian market, primarily Japanese customers, Woodside said.