U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) company Delfin LNG said on Monday it had signed a binding 20-year sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with a unit of energy and commodities firm Hartree Partners LP.
Delfin said in a news release that the agreement moves it closer to making a final investment decision (FID) in mid-2023 to build its proposed Gulf Coast floating LNG (FLNG) export plant off Louisiana.
Delfin is one of about a dozen companies hoping to make FIDs in 2023 to build proposed LNG export plants in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Many of those projects, like Delfin’s, have been delayed for years due to coronavirus-related demand destruction, U.S.-China trade disputes and other factors that made LNG buyers hesitant to sign the long-term purchase agreements needed to finance the multibillion dollar projects.
Under the SPA, Delfin would supply 0.6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to Hartree at prices indexed to the U.S. Henry Hub natural gas benchmark in Louisiana.
Delfin said it has now secured commitments for about 3.1 MTPA of LNG sales, which is sufficient to make a FID on the first FLNG vessel.
Wouter Pastoor, chief operating officer of Delfin, said in the release that the company was also in a position “make FID on our second FLNG vessel by the end of this year.”
Delfin said it had appointed a unit of U.S. bank Citigroup Inc as its financial advisor.
Delfin’s project would use existing offshore pipelines to supply gas to up to four vessels that could each produce about 3.5 MTPA of LNG.
The company has said each vessel would cost about $2 billion and take about four years to enter service.
In addition to its Gulf Coast project, Delfin is also developing Avocet, which would add two more 3.5-MTPA liquefaction vessels.
