US LNG developer Delfin Midstream has signed a binding LNG sales and purchase agreement with a UK subsidiary of the commodities firm Hartree Partners. Under the SPA, Delfin will supply 600,000 tonnes per annum of cargoes on a free on-board basis from the Delfin Deepwater Port.
The contracted LNG volumes will be delivered for a 20-year period, with the price indexed to the US natural gas benchmark Henry Hub.
For the floating Delfin LNG project, to be situated 40 nautical miles off the coast of Louisiana, vessel-borne liquefaction facilities will be deployed together with other moored production and storage vessels. Delfin claims it would require “minimal additional infrastructure investment” to support up to four FLNG vessels producing around 13.3 mtpa.
Aiming for FID in mid-2023
In terms of offtake, Delfin has now commitments for 3.1 mtpa of LNG sales which it claims to be sufficient to take a positive FID in mid-2023. “The signing of this long-term SPA with Hartree signifies the beginning of a strong, mutually beneficial relationship with a world-class trading company,” said Delfin CEO Dudley Poston.
US investment bank Citi has been appointed as Delfin’s exclusive financial structuring advisor and Poston claimed the project was “well advanced” in securing project-level equity and debt for the first FLNG vessel. “The project’s ability to take FID one vessel at a time is attracting interest from buyers,” he said, revealing “we are already in advanced discussions for marketing LNG for Delfin’s second FLNG vessel.”
