UK’s Centrica Signs $8.5B Long-Term Deal To Import U.S. LNG  

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has signed a heads of agreement with U.S. firm Delfin Midstream to import LNG starting in 2026 from a planned floating LNG export facility offshore Louisiana, in a 15-year-deal worth $8.5 billion (7 billion British pounds).

Delfin has thus secured another long-term customer, which is expected to facilitate a Final Investment Decision (FID) for Delfin Deepwater Port, the first floating LNG export facility in the United States, by the end of this year, the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

“Market demand for long-term LNG continues to be strong and buying activity from Europe and various other geographies has accelerated over the past few months. As a modular project that can make FID in 3.5 MTPA increments, this agreement materially advances our first vessel’s path towards FID later this year,” Dudley Poston, chief executive officer of Delfin, said.

In recent months, LNG buyers in Europe and Asia have been increasingly returning to long-term purchase agreements in order to secure a long-term supply of non-Russian gas and to insulate themselves from spiking volatile spot prices.

For Centrica, another deal for natural gas imports fits its and the UK strategy to bolster domestic energy security with sources of reliable and stable future supply of gas.

“Additional US gas export capacity will help increase UK, European and global energy security, reflecting the increasing importance of LNG in the global gas supply chain,” said Chris O’Shea, Centrica Group Chief Executive.

In June, Centrica signed a deal with Norway’s major Equinor for the delivery of an additional 1 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas supplies to the UK for each of the next three winters.

Centrica has also been awarded by UK authorities a gas storage license for the Rough site in the Southern North Sea—a site that was closed in 2017, but could reopen as early as this winter.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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