LNG

Tellurian Inc. has received the US Department of Energy long-term authorization for its Driftwood LNG project to export domestically-produced liquefied natural gas from its proposed export facility near Lake Charles to non-free trade agreement countries.

Tellurian Inc. developer of the Driftwood LNG project in Louisiana backed by companies such as French energy major Total, has launched an open season for its Permian Global Access Pipeline to secure prospective customers.

The Permian Global Access project is a proposed 42-inch diameter inter-state natural gas pipeline originating at the Waha Hub in Pecos County in Texas and terminating at Gillis in Louisiana, north of Lake Charles where the liquefaction plant will be constructed.

The final environmental impact statement was issued by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in January 2019 to develop the Driftwood liquefaction plant to produce around 27.6 million tonnes per annum of LNG.

The pipeline will connect the prolific Permian Basin in Texas to the rapidly growing natural gas market in southwest Louisiana.

“It will cost approximately $3.7 billion to construct and will have the capacity to transport at least two billion cubic feet of natural gas a day,” said Tellurian.

“Construction could begin as early as 2021 and the pipeline is targeted to be in service as early as 2023,” added the company.

Tellurian is also developing a second pipeline venture called the Haynesville Global Access Pipeline at around the same cost.

In addition to spending $7.4Bln on the two pipelines, Tellurian is developing the liquefaction plant near Lake Charles with total investments of around $15.2Bln and the provision of about 15,000 jobs.

“Permian producers have recently paid $9.00 per million British thermal units to move their natural gas away from the wellhead, reflecting the acute need for infrastructure development in the Basin,” said Tellurian Chief Executive and President Meg Gentle.

“By contrast, Southwest Louisiana is a market expected to grow 300 percent in the next five years,” added Gentle.

“The Permian Global Access Pipeline is critical infrastructure that will interconnect stranded Permian gas production with growing markets, reduce flaring and provide a valuable cleaner fuel to reduce urban pollution and carbon globally,” stated the CEO.

The open season was scheduled to begin at noon Central time on April 8 and runs to Friday, May 24.

Tellurian said it would encourage interested parties to contact Joey Mahmoud, President of the Permian Global Access Pipeline project, at the pipeline company website.

The pipeline open season follows recent advances in the LNG project with Total signing two accords to invest more in the development company and to take its supply requirements from the venture to 2.5 MTPA of LNG.

The sales agreement will be for the purchase of free-on-board (FOB) whereby Total supplies the shipping and for a minimum term of 15 years and based on the Platts Japan Korea Marker (JKM) price.

Total’s equity agreement gives the French company an additional 20 million shares of Tellurian common stock for an amount of $200 million, adding to its previous investment.

Tellurian Inc., developer of the Driftwood LNG export project in Louisiana, ended its year with a loss of around $125.7 million, as it made commercial progress on its plant to be constructed near Lake Charles with affiliated pipelines.

Tellurian, listed on the Nasdaq exchange, said it ended the year with $133.7M of cash and cash equivalents and about $57.0 million in debt.

The final environmental impact statement was issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in January 2019 to develop the liquefaction plant to produce around 27.6 million tonnes per annum of LNG.

Tellurian stands ready to make a final investment decision and begin construction in the first half, with the first LNG expected in 2023.

In its initial trading operations, Tellurian generated $5.9 million in revenue from LNG marketing and around $4.4M from natural gas sales.

It also received a $50 million investment from US energy and LNG engineering company Bechtel, which will organise the building of the plant.

“The company advanced the sale of LNG and Driftwood Holdings’ partnership interests, with approximately 35 customer-partners conducting due diligence,” said Tellurian.

Among other highlights it signed two accords, one with commodities firm Vitol for the supply of 1.5 MTPA of LNG for 15 years and a second with Petronet LNG of India for equity investment in the Driftwood project.

Tellurian additionally closed two open seasons on proposed pipelines, the Permian Global Access Pipeline and the Haynesville Global Access Pipeline, and received non-binding indications of interest for both projects in excess of available capacity.

“Tellurian distinguished itself in the market through our innovative equity interest investment strategy, and by introducing a new pricing benchmark for LNG agreements,” said President and Chief Executive Meg Gentle.

The CEO was referring to pricing being offered to customers on the Platts Japan Korea Marker (JKM) instead of the US benchmark Henry Hub price.

“We recently received our final Environmental Impact Statement for Driftwood LNG and look forward to receiving our Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order to proceed,” added Gentle.

Tellurian Inc., developer of the Driftwood LNG export plant in Louisiana, said it advanced the sale of LNG and Driftwood partnership interests with around 35 customers and potential partners conducting due diligence and would announce the investor and buyer list by year-end.