Sempra LNG, a unit of Sempra Energy, has confirmed the signing of a heads of agreement that provides Italian oil and gas company Eni with approximately one-third of the capacity of Sempra's Cameron LNG receipt terminal under development near Lake Charles, Louisiana.
The non-binding heads of agreement (HOA) contemplates finalizing a definitive 20-year terminal services agreement by mid-2005.
Under the proposed agreement, Sempra will provide Eni between 400 million cubic feet per day (MMcfd), or 4.1 billion cubic meters (Bcm) per year, and 600MMcfd, or 6.2Bcm per year, of capacity in the company’s Cameron LNG receipt terminal. Upon its completion in 2008, Cameron LNG will have an initial sendout capacity of 1.5 billion cubic feet per day, or 15.5Bcm per year, of natural gas.
This new relationship with one of the world’s leading oil and natural gas companies marks another significant step in our corporate LNG strategy, said Darcel Hulse, president of Sempra LNG. We look forward to concluding the definitive terminal service and supply agreements involving Cameron LNG in the near future, so that we can begin delivering new gas supplies through the facility in 2008.
The deal with Eni follows an agreement on January 27 in which Sempra LNG signed an HOA providing Tractebel LNG North America with between 325MMcfd and 500MMcfd of capacity of the Cameron LNG receipt terminal. That non-binding HOA contemplates finalizing a definitive 20-year capacity agreement by June 30.
Cameron LNG is located near the Gulf Coast along the Calcasieu Ship Channel, about 15 miles south of Lake Charles. The project has received the ‘authority to construct’ from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and is slated to begin construction later this year.
Cameron LNG is expected to be interconnected with US interstate and intrastate pipelines. These pipelines will have up to 10 billion cubic feet per day of downstream capacity to the Midwest, Southeast, Atlantic and Northeast markets.