Tokyo Gas Wants to Increase Investment in US Shale Gas Sector

Japan’s Tokyo Gas has plans to increase investment in US shale gas sector as a hedge to LNG imports from the United States to start next year, Reuters quoted a company executive as saying.

Shigeru Muraki, a board member and executive adviser at Tokyo Gas said that the company has contracted to buy 1.9 million tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG from U.S. producers and aims to invest in an equal volume in the upstream sector.

"We try to expand our investment in the shale gas production in the United States. That can be the natural hedge for LNG," he said, reported Reuters on Monday.

In March 2013, Tokyo Gas inked a deal to buy Quicksilver Resources’ working interests in shale gas development joint venture in US Barnett basin, Texas and form a joint venture. This was first such deal for Tokyo Gas in the US shale gas space.