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Japanese aims for equity stake in Qatar gas project

DOHA: Three Japanese trading houses are seeking a stake in one of Qatar's multibillion-dollar gas export projects in return for wooing customers in the Far East market, senior Qatari and Japanese officials said on Tuesday.

"Sumitomo, Nissho Iwai and Itochu are negotiating for a 10 percent equity participation in Ras Laffan LNG Company in return for helping to sell our gas in the Japanese market", Jaber al-Marri, director-general of Qatar General Petroleum Corp (QGPC) and chairman of Ras Laffan LNG Co (Rasgas) told Reuters.

"The talks with the potential Japanese partners have reached a decisive stage and we hope to announce the deal within a month or so", said another QGPC official.

Rasgas is the second of the Gulf Arab state's planned three liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects designed to cash in on the North Field - the largest single offshore field in the world - and reduce its dependency on oil exports.

Rasgas is 70 percent owned by the state's QGPC and 30 per cent by the U.S. Mobil Corp MOB.Nand has been designed to produce 10 million tonnes annually of LNG, with exports mainly to Japanese and Korean markets.

"Qatar considers Japan as one of its most important markets for LNG and in this market you have to route through the Japanese trading houses to win customers", the official said.

"The participation of Sumitomo, Nissho Iwai and Itochu, which are Japan's big three trading houses, in the equity will surely enhance Rasgas' prospects in the Far East market", he said.

It was not clear how the Japanese will distribute the block of the 10 percent stake they are negotiating among themselves.

"We want as much as we can get," a Sumitomo official said.

Mobil had agreed to turn over five percent of its equity in favour of the Japanese trading houses and QGPC will also surrender five percent of its 70 percent stake, the QGPC official said.

Rasgas aims to produce 10 million tonnes a year of LNG.-Reuter