Japanese trading house Mitsui and Co is preparing to take new equity stakes in Middle East liquefied natural gas projects, citing surging power demand from AI data centres as the driver for locking in long-term gas supply (per AGBI and Bloomberg).
The Gulf strategy
Mitsui Chief Executive Kenichi Hori has told reporters the company will consider both equity stakes and long-term offtake agreements with LNG and gas-chemicals producers across the Middle East, the United States and Australia (per Hydrocarbon Processing). The Middle East leg of that strategy centres on the Gulf two largest LNG growth stories: QatarEnergy North Field expansion and ADNOC Ruwais project in the UAE.
Qatar negotiations
Mitsui is close to acquiring a stake in the second phase of QatarEnergy North Field expansion, known as North Field South, according to multiple reports. The phase is designed to add 16 million tonnes per annum of LNG production at an estimated cost of about 17.5 billion dollars (per Zawya and Trade Arabia). A deal would mark a meaningful deepening of Japan commercial ties to Qatar upstream gas sector at a moment when Asian and European buyers are competing aggressively for committed Qatari volumes.
UAE foothold via Ruwais LNG
Inside the UAE, Mitsui already holds a 10 percent interest in ADNOC Ruwais LNG export facility, taken through a subsidiary. The Ruwais project, currently under construction in the Al Dhafra region, has a planned annual production capacity of 9.6 million metric tonnes and is scheduled to begin production in 2028 (per AGBI). That position gives Mitsui exposure to one of the few greenfield LNG plants designed from the outset to run on clean power, a feature increasingly demanded by Japanese and European utilities under tightening emissions rules.
Why data centres are the trigger
Hori has framed the LNG push as a direct response to power-demand growth tied to data centres and broader AI infrastructure build-outs in Japan and globally (per Bloomberg). LNG offers dispatchable, lower-carbon baseload that can complement renewables and back up grids serving high-density compute campuses, a profile that pure-play renewables cannot yet match at scale.
Outlook
Together, the Qatar and UAE positions would give Mitsui a diversified Gulf LNG portfolio across two of the world lowest-cost producers, hedging against single-country political and operational risk while securing decades of supply for Japanese and partner customers.
