US liquefaction plant developer Venture Global LNG said it has signed two liquefied natural gas supply deals with a unit of China’s energy giant CNOOC.
This marks the first LNG supply and purchase agreement signed by a US exporter with CNOOC, China’s largest importer of LNG, according to a statement by Venture Global.
Under the first deal, Venture Global said it would supply 2 million tonnes per annum of LNG on a free on board basis for a period of 20 years from its Plaquemines LNG export facility in Louisiana.
In addition, CNOOC Gas & Power would purchase 1.5 million tonnes of LNG from Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG facility for a shorter duration, it said.
“Venture Global is pleased to announce the expansion of our footprint in Asia through two new deals to supply the Chinese market with clean, low-cost US LNG,” Mike Sabel, chief executive of Venture Global, said.
“China is critical to global climate efforts, and LNG supplied by Venture Global will serve as an important addition to their low carbon energy mix for decades. This new long-term partnership with CNOOC builds on our company’s continued momentum in a very active 2021,” he said.
Top US LNG exporter to China
Venture Global said in November while announcing its deals with China’s Sinopec that it would become the largest US LNG exporter to China.
These three deals include a total supply of over 80 million tonnes of US LNG over the coming decades.
Coupled with these two new contracts, this represents more than 120 million tonnes of US LNG.
Plaquemines LNG FID
With this new deal with CNOOC, Venture Global LNG is nearing a final investment decision on its Plaquemines LNG project as well.
The firm said in September it had started works to prepare the construction site for the project.
Plaquemines LNG would deploy Venture Global LNG’s liquefaction trains 19 through 36, the same as the 18 trains at its Calcasieu Pass project which is nearing first exports.
The full Plaquemines project would have 20 mtpa capacity, four tanks, and three jetties, but the firm plans to build the project in stages.
Also, besides the Sinopec and CNOOC deals, Plaquemines LNG has binding 20-year offtake agreements with Poland’s PGNiG for 4 mtpa and France’s EDF for 1 mtpa capacity.
Venture Global previously said it could start full operations at the Plaquemines project in the middle of 2024.