Mitsui & Co. is looking to invest in liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects across the Middle East, the United States and Australia, its CEO has said, as the Japanese trading house positions itself to meet rising power demand from data centers worldwide.
¡°We¡¯re always looking for expansion opportunities in LNG and gas chemicals,¡± Mitsui CEO Kenichi Hori said, adding that Mitsui would consider taking equity stakes or securing offtake agreements.
Companies seeking clean energy to power artificial intelligence infrastructure are creating ¡°big additional demand¡± for LNG, Hori added.
Mitsui is one of Japan¡¯s ¡°big five¡± trading houses, a Warren Buffett-backed group that also includes Mitsubishi Corp., Sumitomo Corp., Itochu and Marubeni. With sprawling global energy and metals businesses, the companies have benefited from strong raw material prices and the weaker yen.
Mitsui is seeking new assets as part of a new midterm strategy announced earlier this month, which will see some capital allocated to the energy sector.
¡°We are not placing constraints on ourselves,¡± Hori said. ¡°Given our strong balance sheet, there is room to increase leverage.¡±
Mitsui already has an interest in the Abu Dhabi National Oil¡¯s Ruwais LNG export facility ¡ª which is currently under construction ¡ª and would consider further investment in the Middle East, Hori said. Asked about the effects of the Iran war, which has severely curtailed oil and gas flows for the last three months, he said the region ¡°will remain the major supply source of energy. That won¡¯t change.¡±
Diversification, however, is also key to the company¡¯s strategy. Mitsui participates in Australia¡¯s North West Shelf project alongside companies including Woodside Energy Group, and last year signed a long-term supply deal with Venture Global, part of a push by Japanese companies to procure more LNG from the U.S.
The growth of AI and the data centers behind the technology creates a range of opportunities, not least the need for clean, affordable and sustainable energy, Hori said.
¡°Without securing energy, it is impossible to implement solutions,¡± he said, adding that one possible approach could involve a consolidated entity focused on the entire supply chain for data centers. He did not elaborate on such an entity.
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