By Katya Golubkova
TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese trading house Mitsubishi sees its liquefied natural gas (LNG) output capacity growing by 5 million metric tons per year to over 17 million tons early in the 2030s thanks to its stakes in projects including in Malaysia and Canada.
Mitsubishi is a shareholder in 12 LNG projects in Brunei, Malaysia, Australia, Oman, Russia, Indonesia, the U.S. and Canada, with total output capacity of 110.4 million tons per year, an earnings presentation by the company showed on Friday.
LNG Canada is due to ship its first cargo by mid-2025 but all the other projects are producing gas.
That will increase Mitsubishi's LNG production capacity to 14 million tons per year next year from 12 million tons per year now.
LNG and the sale of two Australian metallurgical coal mines contributed to a 33% increase in Mitsubishi's net profit for the six months to September, the presentation showed.
However, the company kept its net profit forecast for the fiscal year ending in March unchanged at 950 billion yen.
In 2023, Japan imported 66 million tons of LNG for domestic usage.
The country is the world's second-biggest LNG importer after China but gas consumption has been declining in recent years as nuclear and renewable-power use increased. As a result, Japanese companies trade unused LNG volumes elsewhere.
($1 = 152.3600 yen)