Washington-based energy investor EIG and Belgium’s LNG terminal operator Fluxys have joined forces to buy an 80 percent equity stake in GNL Quintero, the largest regasification terminal in Chile.
The two firms are buying the controlling stake from Enagas Chile, which currently owns a 45.4 percent stake in the facility, and affiliates of Omers Infrastructure which hold a 34.6 percent stake.
Chile’s Enap also holds a 20 percent in the 4 mtpa facility.
EIG and Fluxys did not reveal the price tag of the deal in a statement released on Monday.
Spanish LNG terminal operator Enagas said in a separate statement it has agreed to sell its 45.4 percent shareholding in GNL Quintero for $661 million.
Operational since 2009, Quintero is the largest terminal for receiving and unloading LNG in Chile, as well as for its storage and regasification capacities. Chile also has the 1.5 mtpa Mejillones facility.
The Quintero terminal benefits from its strategic location in Quintero Bay, supplying a diversified base of customers in central Chile across residential, commercial, industrial, transportation and power generation sectors.
It owns 75 percent of the country’s LNG regasification capacity and in 2021, 67 percent of the total natural gas imports, both LNG and pipeline imports, arrived in Chile through this asset, according to the statement.
The facility has a daily regasification capacity of 15 million cbm, an LNG storage capacity of 334,000 cbm, and 2,500 cbm per day of truck loading capacity.
EIG and Fluxys expect to close the transaction in the second half of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions, including any required merger control and related regulatory approvals.