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| Two liquefied
natural gas (LNG) projects recently announced by Mitsubishi
Corporation promise to contribute greatly to meeting energy
needs in the Pacific Basin.
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There’s oil out there. And gas, too. |
M
itsubishi Corporation and two partners decided in May to
move ahead with a massive energy development project on
the Russian island of Sakhalin. Teamed with Mitsubishi Corporation
in the project are Royal Dutch-Shell and Mitsui & Co.
The three partners share a joint venture named Sakhalin
Energy Investment Company Ltd. They set up the joint venture
in 1994, and it began producing crude oil in 1999.
More recently, Japanese electric and gas utilities
expressed strong interest in the extensive gas reserves
available to Sakhalin Energy Investment. The close geographical
proximity of those reserves heightens their appeal to prospective
Japanese customers.
Two Japanese customers already have signed
long-term supply contracts, and other Japanese users are
negotiating supply arrangements. Their commitment and the
interest expressed by other prospective customers persuaded
the joint venture partners to move ahead with a second stage
of development.
Sakhalin Energy Investment presently produces
crude oil about six months a year. The project will begin
year-round production of crude oil in 2006, and it will
start producing LNG in 2007.
The partners expect to invest about $10 billion
in the second-stage development work. That work includes
building two offshore platforms, an onshore gas processing
plant, 800 kilometers of oil and gas pipelines, LNG plant
for liquefying natural gas and terminals for loading LNG
and crude oil onto tankers.
Safeguarding the natural environment is an
overriding consideration in undertaking a project of this
scale. Sakhalin Energy Investment has made the utmost effort
to minimize the environmental impact of the project.
This project is the biggest single foreign
direct investment in Russia. Mitsubishi Corporation holds
a 20% stake in the overall project.
A
Mitsubishi Corporation subsidiary based in Long Beach,
California, is preparing to provide southern Californians
with improved access to natural gas. Sound Energy Solutions,
the subsidiary, has reached an agreement with the Port
of Long Beach to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal
at the port. The project, which is subject to federal
and state government approvals, would create the first
LNG terminal on the U.S. west coast.
California’s recent energy crisis underlined
the need for reliable access to electrical generating
capacity, and natural gas is an important fuel for power
plants.
Natural gas also is a cleaner-burning alternative
to diesel fuel in motor vehicles. So this Mitsubishi Corporation
project will help reduce pollution in California even
as it helps meet the state’s energy needs.
The LNG terminal will occupy about 11 hectares
(27 acres) at the Port of Long Beach. It will comprise
a pair of receiving tanks, an offloading berth and a regasification
unit. Mitsubishi Corporation has earmarked $350 million
to $400 million for investment in building the terminal
Planners at Mitsubishi Corporation are evaluating
possible sources of LNG for the Long Beach terminal. The
candidates include upcoming LNG production projects on
the Pacific Rim. This new outlet for LNG will increase
the efficiency and flexibility of the overall market for
LNG in the Pacific Basin.
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Mitsubishi
Estate is helping make sure that its tenants, including
a lot of Mitsubishi companies, take full advantage of cyberspace.
The big real estate company is landlord to numerous companies
in Tokyo’s Marunouchi business district. It has teamed
with a data service subsidiary of Japan’s largest securities
broker and with a trading firm to provide tenants with broadband
Internet access and related services.
The value provided by Mitsubishi Estate and
its partners extends beyond high-speed Internet connectivity.
They furnish users with wide support in regard to keeping
software up to date and to ensuring the security of precious
data. |
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Along
with serving up popular beers, Kirin Brewery is a leader
in canned cocktails based on distilled liquor, which are
popular among Japanese. Cumulative sales of its Hyoketsu
line of cocktails reached the equivalent of one billion
cans in July after just two years on the market. |
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| Thirty-two
Mitsubishi companies announced recently that they will
participate in the 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan.
Their pavilion will highlight the companies’ leadership
in safeguarding the global environment, and the exhibits
will feature a lunar theme.
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Come see it for yourself in 2005. |
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The
Mitsubishi companies have named their expo pavilion Mitsubishi
Pavilion@earth—What If the Moon Didn’t Exist?
That name refers to the best-selling book by the American
astrophysicist Neil Comins, What If the Moon Didn’t
Exist?
Visitors to the Mitsubishi pavilion will proceed
through a passageway that coils out from the center. Greeting
the visitors will be Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ famous
robot, wakamaru. Multimedia presentations in the pavilion
will call attention to the terrestrial influence of the
moon, such as tidal movement, along with other subjects
of interest.
Wise Mother Nature
Everything that people encounter
at Mitsubishi Pavilion@earth will resonate with the expo
theme, Nature’s Wisdom. Foliage on the roof and walls
of the structure will maximize thermal efficiency in managing
the interior environment. The builders will use natural
and recycled materials in constructing the pavilion. They
even have purchased greenhouse gas emission rights for the
carbon dioxide output that the construction work will entail.
Aichi Expo will take place under an official
sanction from the Bureau of International Expositions. The
expo will open on March 25, 2005, and will continue until
September 25. It will take place at multiple venues near
Nagoya. The organizers expect 15 million people to attend
the expo. |
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This ferry and its contra rotating propellers will
get you and your car to the other side quickly.
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Mitsubishi
Heavy Industries has won a contract to supply the largest
and fastest car ferries ever seen in Japan. It will deliver
the vessels in June 2004 to an Osaka-based ferry operator.
Each ferry will carry up to 158 truck trailers and 66 passenger
cars at a maximum speed of 31.5 knots.
An especially important technological innovation
in the new ferries is in their propulsion system. They will
use a contra rotating propeller system. In that system,
a pair of propeller shafts rotate in opposite directions.
That reduces drag and increases propulsion efficiency greatly,
which means big savings in fuel consumption.
In another technological highlight, one of
the contra rotating propellers will occupy a swiveling pod.
The pod can turn 360 degrees, which will allow for excellent
maneuverability in harbors. |
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Cool off this summer in Tokyo with a bit of Tropicana
Sorbet, courtesy of Tropicana’s collaboration
with Kirin Beverage. |
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Kirin
Beverage, a Mitsubishi company that specializes in nonalcoholic
drinks and in food products, is an invaluable partner to
PepsiCo’s Tropicana division. Tropicana, the world’s
largest producer of branded fruit juices, serves the Japanese
market through a highly successful joint venture with Kirin
Beverage. The joint venture handles product development
and marketing strategy. Kirin Beverage handles the production
and the sales and distribution.
Along with providing Japanese consumers with
a delectable array of fruit juices, Kirin Beverage and the
Kirin-Tropicana joint venture offer a line of premium-grade
sorbet desserts. Tropicana Sorbet debuted in the frozen
food sections of Japanese supermarkets and convenience stores
in summer 2002. The initial selection of orange, grapefruit,
raspberry and pear flavors proved extremely popular. So
the partners broadened the line this spring with strawberry-
and peach-flavored additions.
Multilateral collaboration
with an international cast of partners has been a hallmark
of the Mitsubishi companies from the beginning. In Kirin-Tropicana,
Kirin Beverage has shared its
wealth of expertise in Japanese marketing
with a U.S. partner. And the Tropicana
line of products has been an excellent fit with Kirin Beverage’s
up-market portfolio of drinks and food products. Both partners,
therefore, have benefited hugely from the joint venture. |
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Majed A. Jawad, the marketing manager
at Qatar Automobiles, passes along this story for the
benefit of Monitor readers.
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Mitsubishi
Motors’ Qataridistributor stages an annual off-road
outing for Pajero (Montero) owners and their families. It
calls the event the Pajero Raid. This year’s Raid took
place in April
on the seaside sand dunes of Khour Al Udied and attracted
about 80 vehicles.
Qatar Automobiles, the Mitsubishi Motors distributor,
enlisted several professional drivers to lead groups of
customers over the dunes. The organizers divided the participants
into five groups of about 16 vehicles, each group led by
one of the professional drivers.
The Pajero (Montero) owners all enjoyed the
opportunity to put their rugged vehicles to the test on
challenging terrain. Guidance from professional drivers
gave them the opportunity and the confidence to tackle maneuvers
and slopes that they wouldn’t ordinarily attempt on
their own.
Let’s eat
Everyone negotiated the course safely. Their reward was
a hearty banquet on the beach, courtesy of Qatar Automobiles.
The distributor evenprovided specially prepared children’s
meals. And it arrayed inflated castles, sand boxes and beach
toys for the younger passengers.
The Pajero Raid is a chance
for the participants to verify the rugged quality of their
Mitsubishi Motors vehicles. It also is good training in
safe-driving techniques on tough terrain. Of course, it
also reinforces customer relationships. |
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New research findings from Kirin Brewery
suggest that brewer’s yeast can help keep you healthy.
Laboratory studies at Kirin have shown that cell wall
material from brewer’s yeast may (1) help bones absorb
calcium and thus become stronger, (2) suppress allergic
response and enhance the intestinal barrier function to
pathogens and (3) lower the level of cholesterol in the
blood.
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This is what the cell wall material from
brewer’s yeast looks like up close. |
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People
have long recognized the nutritional value of brewer’s
yeast, and the yeast is a familiar nutritional supplement
around the world. It is a rich source of B vitamins, amino
acids, protein and minerals, including chromium, which appears
to help maintain the blood cholesterol level.
The research on brewer’s yeast at Kirin
focuses on the material in the cell wall. Kirin separates
the cell wall material from the other cell residue and refines
it to a high purity. That eliminates the bitter taste and
strong odor that have limited the market for brewer’s
yeast to a dedicated core of consumers. Kirin’s yeast
material is a pleasant-tasting, sweetly fragrant concoction.
Stronger Bones
Researchers at Kirin have reported in research findings
that indicate that bones become denser when they absorb
calcium in combination with the cell wall material from
brewer’s yeast. Dietary fiber promotes the growth of
bacteria that produce organic acid in the large intestine.
Kirin’s researchers assume that acidity in the gastrointestinal
tract caused by the increase in bacteria makes calcium easier
to absorb.
Meanwhile, collaborative research between Kirin
and the Tokyo’s Graduate School of Agricultural and
Life Sciences has demonstrated that brewer’s yeast
cell wall suppresses atopic dermatitis, pollinosis and other
allergic diseases. It also has shown that the cell wall
material from brewer’s yeast can strengthen the immunofunction
of the intestinal wall.
Ingesting brewer’s yeast cell wall material
reduced the concentration of an antibody associated with
allergic symptoms. In addition, it raised the intestinal
levels of an antibody that exerts a barrier function against
invasive pathogens.
Research at Kirin also has yielded scientific
evidence of something that lots of health-conscious consumers
have long believed: that taking brewer’s yeast can
reduce cholesterol. Ingesting cell wall material from brewer’s
yeast appears to accelerate the secretion of bile acid into
feces and, as a result, stimulate production of bile acid
by the liver.
The liver uses cholesterol to produce bile
acid, which it secretes into the small intestine. So, increased
production of the bile acid lowers the cholesterol level
in the blood. |
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Mitsubishi
Electric has opened a stimulating center at its Tokyo headquarters
for exploring new possibilities in exchanging information.
The center, named DCROSS, offers Internet links, high-tech
attractions and music and other cultural events, all in
a corner café setting. It also exhibits new products
there. DCROSS opened on June 20.
Occupying center stage at DCROSS is a 160-inch
high-definition projection screen. On hand for visitors
to use individually at their leisure are six liquid crystal
display monitors. Eight other display monitors deployed
around the café provide a continuing stream of visual
broadband content.
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Visitors to DCROSS opening enjoyed performances
of live music. Delectable bakery delights and fresh-brewed
coffees and teas are on offer daily, along with
Internet terminals.
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DCROSS is the latest addition
to the growing range of attractions in Tokyo’s Marunouchi
district. That district, home to numerous Mitsubishi companies,
was long a staid venue devoted entirely to business. A redevelopment
initiative has invigorated the district in recent years,
however, by attracting fashionable boutiques and sophisticated
restaurants. |
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Mitsubishi
Corporation supplies the Pacific Basin with natural gas
