Tellurian, the developer of the Driftwood LNG export project in Louisiana, has secured one more month to meet the conditions of its LNG supply deal with trader Gunvor.
This is the only LNG supply deal Tellurian has for the planned 27.6 mtpa Driftwood LNG project after both of its LNG supply deals with Shell and Vitol fell through.
Back in May 2021, Tellurian agreed to supply three million tonnes per annum on a free on board (FOB) basis to Gunvor Singapore for a period of 10 years.
Tellurian and Gunvor entered into an amendment to the original deal on December 30, 2022.
Furthermore, the two firms agreed to extend the conditions precedent deadline from December 31, 2022 to January 31, 2023.
Now the two firms have entered into a second amendment of the deal to allow Tellurian more time to fulfill the contract.
Under the deal signed on January 27, the conditions precedent deadline of January 31, 2023 had been changed to February 28, 2023, Tellurian said in a filling with the US SEC.
Also, the end date for the “period during which Driftwood LNG must provide Gunvor with five days’ prior written notice of the date that all of the conditions precedent are satisfied has been changed from January 31, 2023 to February 28, 2023,” it said.
Talks with equity providers
Tellurian’s co-founder and executive chairman, Charif Souki, recently said that the LNG terminal developer is in talks with “several equity providers” as it looks to secure financing for its project.
Under the first phase, Tellurian aims to build two LNG plants near Lake Charles with an export capacity of up to 11 mtpa and expects the costs to reach about $13.6 billion.
US engineer and construction giant Bechtel is moving forward with the initial site works under a limited notice to proceed issued in March last year, while Tellurian is working to secure funds for the project.
Souki said that equity would likely come from “major oil companies that have enormous amount of cash and institutions that are starting to want to be present in the energy space in general and in the LNG business in particular.”
Also, he said that “the critical pathway is to find $6 billion of equity.”
“We at Tellurian have already invested $1 billion of equity in our project and we continue to invest money this year,” Souki said.