Mitsui & Co. begins production at its Waitsia liquefied natural gas project in Western Australia this month, marking the Japanese trading company’s first newly operational LNG facility in five years, Nikkei reported.
The project comes online roughly two years behind its original late-2023 target, with costs ballooning approximately 70% above initial estimates according to analyst assessments. Mitsui holds a 50% stake in the Perth Basin venture alongside partner Beach Energy, with the Japanese firm expecting its share of output to reach 700,000 metric tons annually.
The addition lifts Mitsui’s Australian LNG production to 1.9 million tons once Waitsia reaches full capacity, bringing the country roughly in line with the company’s 2-million-ton U.S. portfolio. Australia and America now represent comparable pillars of Mitsui’s diversified global gas strategy, which spans 11 projects across eight countries.
Waitsia’s output will flow to the North West Shelf LNG terminal operated by Woodside Energy, where declining legacy fields have created demand for new supply sources. The project represents one of only two domestic Western Australian gas developments permitted to export LNG.
Mitsui acquired its position through a 2017 takeover of AWE. The company projects its overall global LNG production will increase roughly 10% to 6.7 million tons with Waitsia’s contribution.
