JBIC To Loan Up To $700 Million To Mitsui & Co. Unit's Shale Gas Project

Japan Bank for International Cooperation will loan up to $700 million to Mitsui E&P USA, a unit of Mitsui & Co. (8031.TO), for the development of a shale gas project in which Mitsui E&P has a 15.5% stake, a spokesman for Mitsui & Co. said Tuesday.

The loan is JBIC's first financing of a shale gas project. The Japanese state-owned bank said the loan would indirectly help stabilize liquefied natural gas supply to Japan, as increased natural gas output in the U.S. is likely to ease global competition for LNG supplies.

Japan buys all its natural gas imports in the form of liquid due to the lack of pipelines linking the island country to any major gas producing regions.

Mitsui E&P last year acquired a 15.5% stake in Anadarko Petroleum Corp.'s (APC) Marcellus shale gas project. Its share of peak production from the Marcellus project is expected to be 360,000 million-460,000 million cubic feet a day.

The Mitsui unit's project development costs are expected to reach $3 billion-$4 billion over 10 years, depending on the progress of the work.

-By Mari Iwata, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-6269-2798; [e-mail]