Shipping companies in China and Japan said they would start a regular service to carry Siberian natural gas across the Arctic Ocean to East Asia, showing how Asian demand for the fuel is reshaping global shipping routes. Wednesday’s announcement by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. and China Shipping Development Co. offered new details of how liquefied natural gas will get from one of the remotest locations on earth— the $27 billion Yamal LNG facility being developed in western Siberia—to urban areas in China and Japan. China Shipping Development said its joint venture with Mitsui O.S.K. would spend $932 million on three LNG carriers equipped with ice breakers, to be built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. of South Korea. Service is set to begin as soon as 2018. Once virtually impassable, the Arctic Ocean is now attracting interest as a shipping route because global warming has reduced the ice […]