Buying Rockcliff Energy, a US shale producer, outright (2023)
The author’s view
The change in output, from about 330 million cubic feet a day to about 1,300 million, indicates a change of position more than a change of size: from a buyer accumulating interests in individual blocks to a party developing and operating for itself in East Texas and North Louisiana. The roughly $2.9B (¥405bn) committed was almost exactly the size of the record ordinary profit of $2.9B (¥409bn) posted in the year to March 2023 immediately before. It can be read as a decision to spend a one-off profit created by high resource prices on moving the place where the money is made.
Whether the investment was right is not yet settled by the numbers at the time of writing. It is no light matter that the company itself put the outlook for return on assets in the overseas segment at 3.3 per cent and conceded that double digits would be needed to match the risk of the business. Two years after the acquisition it handed its Eagle Ford interests to Shizuoka Gas, so not every overseas asset was a candidate for concentration. Whether holding the upstream oneself was right will be asked again from fiscal 2026, when the Chevron assets are said to begin contributing to profit.
Revenue and net margin, FY2018–FY2026
Revenue in ¥ bn (bars) and net margin in % (line), for the years around the decision. Shaded columns are FY2023 onwards — after it was taken.
Source: securities reports
Read the full dossier in Japanese →
The Japanese edition carries the complete record of this decision — the situation that forced it, the options weighed, what actually followed, and the sources behind every claim.
Other key decisions at Tokyo Gas
- 1885 Taking over Tokyo’s municipal gas bureau (1885)
- 1967 A fifteen-year Alaskan LNG contract, bought jointly with Tokyo Electric Power (1967)
- 1972 Raising the gas to 11,000 kilocalories and converting the capital’s appliances in-house (1972)
- 2015 Selling household electricity, bundled with gas, at full retail liberalization (2015)
- 2025 Answering Elliott’s 5% stake and its demand to sell the property portfolio (2025)
Yen amounts are converted at the average rate of each figure’s own year — not today’s rate; the revenue chart is shown in yen. Exchange rates & sources — the full ¥/US$ table →
Disclaimer
- This page is provided for general information only and is not investment advice, nor a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
- Figures are compiled independently and include our own estimates, approximations and machine-processed data; we make no warranty as to their accuracy or completeness.
- Sources are primarily each company’s securities reports and other public filings, but errors and omissions may remain.
- Any use of this information is at the reader’s own risk. Past performance does not indicate future results.
- Company names, logos and other marks belong to their respective owners.
Data API
Tokyo Gas’s history, financials, executives and
shareholders are published as static JSON — no key, plain GET.
Full specification →
| Method | Endpoint | Returns |
|---|---|---|
| GET | /api/companies.json | All companies |
| GET | /api/9531/manifest.json | Resource index |
| GET | /api/9531/history.json | History overview |
| GET | /api/9531/timeline.json | Chronology |
| GET | /api/decisions.json | All management decisions (index) |
| GET | /api/9531/decisions.json | Management decisions (index) |
| GET | /api/9531/decisions/{slug}.json | One decision (full dossier) |
| GET | /api/9531/executives.json | Executives |
| GET | /api/9531/shareholders.json | Major shareholders |
| GET | /api/9531/financials.json | Financial statements |
| GET | /api/9531/financials-longterm.json | Long-term results |
| GET | /api/9531/segments.json | Business segments |
| GET | /api/9531/regions.json | Sales by region |
| GET | /api/9531/workforce.json | Workforce |