Japan-based Mitsubishi Corp. is leading a group of investors that plan to build a methanol-to-petrochemicals complex in Trinidad, the Trinidad Guardian newspaper reported Monday.

The report cited Trinidad and Tobago's energy minister Kevin Ramnarine.

The consortium, which also includes Mitsubishi Gas Chemicals Co., US-based ICCL and local company Neal & Massy Holdings, will invest $850 million in the first phase of the project, the newspaper said.

The project will be based at a 50-hectare (123.6 acres) site near La Brea in southwestern Trinidad.

The project will use 100 million standard cubic feet/day of natural gas to produce among other products di- methyl ether (DME), which can be used in Trinidad as a replacement or blending stock for diesel and liquified petroleum gas (LPG).

Ramnarine said the target date for the first stage of the project is the first quarter of 2014, though it could come as soon as the fourth quarter of 2013.