Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Kenichi Hori; hereinafter "Mitsui") has successfully completed Stage 2 development of the Waitsia Gas Field (hereinafter "Waitsia") in Western Australia to commence commercial gas production on 6th December. Mitsui, through its wholly owned subsidiary Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Ltd (hereinafter "MEPAU"), acts as operator and holds a 50% interest in Waitsia.

Located approximately 350 km north of Perth, Waitsia is one of Australia's largest onshore natural gas field. Mitsui acquired its interest in 2018 and, aiming to expand production, made the Final Investment Decision (FID) in 2020 for Stage 2 development. This phase enables continued domestic gas supply and LNG exports from Australia. Following completion of development works and regulatory approvals for first gas export, the Stage 2 plant is now operational for gas production and export.

Under the Waitsia Project, in addition to supplying gas to the domestic market, approximately 1.4 million tonnes of LNG per year will be produced. Mitsui will offtake roughly half of this volume in line with its equity share, primarily for sale to Asian markets. LNG production will utilize the liquefaction, storage, and shipping facilities of the North West Shelf Joint Venture (hereinafter "NWS JV"), an LNG project that commenced operations in 1989. With declining feed gas, NWS JV offers tolling services to third parties, enabling efficient use of its surplus LNG infrastructure.
(Mitsui holds a 16.67% interest in NWS JV through Japan Australia LNG (MIMI) Pty Ltd, an equity-method affiliate jointly owned 50% by Mitsui.)

The Australian Government established a greenhouse gas emissions baseline for the project, which continues to decrease by 4.9% annually. MEPAU will mitigate environmental impact through high-efficiency plant design, afforestation initiatives, and carbon credit purchases. Furthermore, as part of its decarbonization strategy, MEPAU is conducting feasibility studies for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects, leveraging depleted gas fields in and around Waitsia.

As the operator, Mitsui has led the project from planning and construction to LNG tolling arrangements with NWS JV, while pursuing climate change initiatives such as CCS. Going forward, Mitsui will strengthen operational capabilities to ensure stable production and enhance the quality of projects across the Mitsui Group. This initiative contributes to Mitsui's materiality goal of "Establish a foundation for sustainable and stable supply."

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