Japan’s Mitsui & Co. Ltd. is continuing to build out its Lower 48 natural gas-weighted holdings after clinching another acquisition in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas.
U.S.-based Mitsui E&P USA LLC said it bought the Tatonka gas assets from Sabana LLC and Vanna LLC. No financial details were disclosed.
The 46,500-acre assets offer “access to the Gulf Coast industrial area, which includes LNG export terminals and ammonia plants,” the company noted.
The strategy includes developing a project that could reach “full-scale development after 2026,” the executive team noted. The longer term outlook for domestic liquefied natural gas exports along the Gulf Coast appeared to be a major reason for the purchase.
“In the U.S., where demand for natural gas is expected to increase due to the start-up of new LNG projects and growth in demand for electricity, Mitsui is also promoting liquefaction and export of U.S. natural gas to global markets, and methanol production businesses using natural gas as feedstock,” executives said.
Mitsui has long been invested across the U.S. natural gas supply chain. In 2023, the company began to build its Eagle Ford footprint with an acquisition in the Hawkville field from Silver Hill Eagle Ford. Mitsui also holds interests in the Marcellus Shale and the Gulf of Mexico.
Last year, the company finalized an agreement to take a stake in Delfin Midstream Inc.’s 13.3 million metric ton/year (mmty) LNG project offshore Louisiana.
Mitsui also is an equity partner in Sempra Infrastructure’s Cameron LNG facility in Louisiana. South of the border, Mitsui is a joint venture partner in the Mexico gas import project, Manzanillo LNG, a 3.8 mmty import terminal in Colima.
“In addition to proactively pursuing upstream development projects, we will strengthen the natural gas value chain, including adjacent businesses, and work toward achieving further low-carbon solutions and decarbonization” by using carbon capture and storage (CCS) “and other measures,” executives said.
A partnership that includes Mitsui last year secured a contract in Texas for a CCS project. The plan is to store emissions offshore Corpus Christi in South Texas in an area that covers more than 140,000 gross acres of pore space. Spain’s Repsol SA owns a 40% stake in the partnership and is the operator. CCS expert Carbonvert Inc. also has 40% equity, while Mitsui and Posco International Corp. each hold 10%.
Mitsui in its medium-term management plan to 2026 said natural gas and LNG were to play an important role as "real solutions" for the energy transition.
