Nippon Oil Corp. and Mitsui Marubeni Liquefied Gas Co. said Monday they will begin talks to integrate their liquefied petroleum gas businesses by next March 31.

Nippon Oil, a unit of JX Holdings Inc., and Mitsui Marubeni Liquefied Gas, established by trading houses Mitsui & Co. and Marubeni Corp., plan to set up a new company by splitting Nippon Oil's LPG business to integrate with Mitsui Marubeni Liquefied Gas, which would be the successor company.

The new company would be Japan's largest LPG supplier, holding a market share of about 25 percent. Nippon Oil is expected to take a majority stake in the company.

The integration is aimed at rationalizing the LPG business to strengthen competitiveness and profitability as demand for LPG is expected to fall due to expansion in coverage by city gas and other factors.

The new company also plans to discuss new energy businesses.