An investment consortium led by Blackstone has agreed to contribute $3.1 billion to acquire a portion of Mitsubishi Corporation's interests in the natural gas liquefaction project in Canada ( LNG Canada ).

Blackstone announced on Monday that several of its funds will jointly acquire a 49.9% non-controlling stake in a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation from multiple institutional investors in Canada; this subsidiary holds all the interests of Mitsubishi Corporation in the LNG Canada liquefied natural gas project in British Columbia.

Mitsubishi Corporation stated that the aforementioned fund is only participating in the transaction as a financial investor. This transaction will not change Mitsubishi Corporation's liquefied natural gas procurement volume, nor will it affect its customers.

LNG Canada is Canada's first and currently the only large-scale liquefied natural gas export terminal. In September, the project announced a second-phase expansion plan. Once the expansion is completed, the facility's annual production capacity will double to 28 million tons.

Liquefaction plants convert natural gas into a liquid state by cooling it, significantly reducing its volume, thereby enabling global maritime transportation.

The LNG Canada in British Columbia is a joint venture project, with shareholders including Shell, Mitsubishi Corporation, Malaysia National Petroleum ( Petronas ), China National Petroleum Corporation, and Korea Gas Corporation. Among them, Shell holds a 40% stake, and Mitsubishi Corporation holds a 15% stake.

Mitsubishi Corporation's subsidiary currently purchases 2.1 million tons of liquefied natural gas from this project each year, and it is expected that the purchase volume will double after the completion of the second phase of expansion.

Mitsubishi Corporation entered the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry in 1969 and has since deployed 13 LNG projects around the world, covering the entire industrial chain from upstream exploration and extraction, liquefaction processing, transportation to market sales.

Members of the investment consortium led by Blackstone include the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, the Ontario Investment Management Corporation, and the Canadian Public Sector Pension Investment Board.