Venture Global LNG has made a final investment decision (FID) for the initial phase of the proposed Plaquemines LNG facility and the associated Gator Express pipeline.
The LNG company has also secured $13.2bn project financing to support the initial 13.33 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) phase of the project.
The transaction marks the world’s largest project financing closed till date, and will fully support the remaining construction and commissioning of the project, said Venture Global.
Plaquemines LNG is the first LNG project in the US to reach financial close following the company’s Calcasieu Pass facility in August 2019.
Venture Global LNG CEO Mike Sabel said: “Plaquemines will build on the success of Calcasieu Pass, which broke global records for speed and execution.
“The project has attracted robust financial and commercial support which has enabled us to formally sanction this project at a critical moment for energy markets.
“I would like to thank our customers, lenders, advisors, construction partners and local partners in Louisiana for their trust and support.”
Venture Global is a US-based provider of low-cost LNG sourced from resource rich natural gas basins in the North America.
Its first facility, Calcasieu Pass, has started producing LNG from January this year.
The company has secured all necessary permits, including FERC authorisation and non-FTA export authorisation from the US Department of Energy (DoE) for the Plaquemines LNG project.
Also, it has executed 20-year sales and purchase agreements (SPAs) for 80% of the full 20Mtpa project.
The phase one of the project will serve customers including PGNiG, Sinopec, CNOOC, Shell and EDF, while phase two will serve ExxonMobil, PETRONAS and New Fortress Energy.
Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, ING, JP Morgan, Mizuho, Morgan Stanley and RBC served as lead banks to Venture Global on this transaction.
Latham & Watkins served as counsel to Venture Global, while Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom acted as counsel to the lenders.
