Japan's Mitsui pivots back to Middle East with LNG project in UAE

TOKYO -- Mitsui & Co. will take a 10% interest in a $5.5 billion liquefied natural gas project in the United Arab Emirates, the Japanese trading house said Thursday, gravitating back toward the region where it got its start in the field.

The Ruwais project, slated to begin operation in 2028, has a planned annual production capacity of 9.6 million tonnes. It is led by Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., which owns 60%, with Shell, BP and TotalEnergies among the other investors. The plant will be designed and built by a joint venture between Japan's JGC Holdings, France's Technip Energies and UAE-based NMDC Energy.