Tokyo Gas, Japan’s top city gas provider, plans to direct more than half of the 350 billion yen ($2.3 billion) it has earmarked for overseas investments over the next three years to the U.S. to drive growth, CEO Shinichi Sasayama said.
In October, Tokyo Gas unveiled a plan to invest up to 1.3 trillion yen in the years to March 2029, including 350 billion yen for overseas projects such as U.S. shale gas development.
“North America is our top priority in our overseas strategy,” Sasayama told Reuters in an interview last week, citing both rising U.S. domestic gas demand – driven by surging power needs for data centres and semiconductor plants – and growing demand for liquefied natural gas exports.
“In recent years, we have concentrated upstream investment in East Texas shale, enhancing our cost competitiveness. Going forward we’ll invest in developing these assets to boost profitability,” he said.