Japan's top power generator JERA said on Wednesday it had bought the entire stake held by the Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) in a Japanese consortium that holds interests in Australia's Wheatstone liquefied natural gas project.
JERA bought JOGMEC's 42.08 per cent stake in Pan Pacific Energy (PEJ), boosting its holding to 50.1 per cent from 8.02 per cent. The transaction was completed on October 2. Mitsubishi Corporation and Nippon Yusen remain shareholders in PEJ.
A PEJ subsidiary's interests in Wheatstone remain unchanged at 10 per cent in an upstream gas field development and eight per cent in the LNG liquefaction project.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
JERA said the acquisition would support its strategy of securing stable and competitive LNG supplies. Japan's biggest LNG buyer procures about 5.2 million tonnes a year from Wheatstone, one of its main supply sources.
Australia remains a strategically important LNG supplier for JERA, which said it would continue diversifying procurement across the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and the United States.
JERA, jointly owned by Tokyo Electric Power and Chubu Electric Power, said earlier this year it would sell its 0.417 per cent stake in Australia's Gorgon LNG project to MidOcean Energy and its 0.735 per cent interest in the Ichthys LNG project to Inpex.
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
