TOKYO, April 12: Japan’s Mitsubishi said on Thursday it was in talks with Royal Dutch Shell as well as a Chinese and a South Korean firm to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Canada.

The deal, reportedly worth more than $12.0 billion, would see the four companies including China National Petroleum and Korea Gas build an LNG terminal in the western province of British Columbia.

“It is true that talks are being held among the four companies although we are not at the stage of announcing details,” a Mitsubishi spokesman told AFP.

The facility would produce about 12 million tons of the gas annually amid surging demand for the commodity across Asia, the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday.

Japan, which has few natural resources, and South Korea are the world’s top LNG importers, accounting for nearly half of all imports.—AFP