Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, Japan's largest shipowner, and Mitsui & Co won a 25-year contract to transport liquefied natural gas from Qatar for Taiwan's Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC,
Only three of seven bidders for the contract met CPC's requirements, Lin Cheng-hsiung (
The agreement may be worth NT$86.9 billion (US$2.7 billion), according to the tender document.
Taiwan aims to double natural gas consumption to 16 million tonnes a year by 2020 to reduce pollution from burning coal and oil. More than 90 percent of the nation's natural gas is imported as LNG. Companies from Japan, the world's biggest LNG buyer, dominate Asian trading of the fuel. Nippon Yusen operates 36 LNG carriers.
"The Japanese won because they are quite experienced in shipbuilding, transportation and working with Qatar," Lin said in an interview.
Nippon Yusen shares rose 1.4 percent to close at ?749 (US$6.58) at 3pm in Tokyo, after declining earlier by as much as 1 percent.
Shares in Tokyo-based Mitsui & Co, Japan's second-biggest trading firm, gained 2.4 percent to ?1,650.
Bidders excluded from the final three were AP Moeller-Maersk A/S, MISC Bhd, Teekay Shipping Corp, and Golar LNG Ltd.
CPC plans to jointly set up two companies with the successful bidder, Lin said June 1.
The first joint venture, in which Qatar Gas Transport Co will also take a stake, will acquire four LNG tankers, while the second will operate the vessels to transport fuel from Qatar, he said.
Qatar Gas Transport is the largest shipper of liquefied natural gas in the Middle East. LNG is gas that has been chilled to liquid form for transport by ship. Import terminals return the LNG to gas form so that it can be sent through pipelines to customers such as factories, power stations and households.
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