(Bloomberg) – Woodside Power Group Ltd. has agreed to purchase U.S. liquefied pure fuel (LNG) export mission developer Tellurian Inc. for about $900 million in a guess on speedy development in world demand for the gasoline.
Australia’s greatest oil and fuel producer can pay about $1 a share in money to take full management of Tellurian, together with the proposed U.S. Gulf Coast Driftwood LNG mission, it stated Monday. Woodside’s shares fell 2.1% in Sydney, their greatest one-day drop since Might 1, after the information was introduced. Tellurian shares rose over 65% Monday morning in New York.
Woodside has been probably the most vocal vitality corporations in arguing that extra pure fuel will likely be wanted to enrich the enlargement of intermittent renewable vitality sources.
It has been on the hunt for potential U.S. LNG investments to assist increase its provide portfolio, and Driftwood is simply one of many handful that haven’t been affected by President Joe Biden’s pause on approvals in January.
“The acquisition of Tellurian and its Driftwood LNG improvement alternative positions Woodside to be a world LNG powerhouse,” Woodside Chief Govt Officer Meg O’Neill stated. “A complementary U.S. place would enable us to higher serve prospects globally and seize additional advertising and marketing optimization alternatives throughout each the Atlantic and Pacific Basins.”
Woodside is focusing on a last funding determination for the primary part of the Driftwood mission from the primary quarter of 2025. If all 4 phases are accomplished, the Louisiana facility would have the ability to export 27.6 million tons a 12 months — virtually triple Woodside’s present capability and almost 6% of the worldwide whole on the finish of final 12 months.
Tellurian has been struggling to carry the power to fruition since its 2016 founding by LNG trade pioneer Charif Souki, who left in December amid his personal private chapter proceedings. Martin Houston — one other trade veteran who co-founded Tellurian and is its present chairman — has vowed to slash prices, and there had been earlier discussions to promote the enterprise.
“Woodside moving into Driftwood supplies a excessive diploma of certainty across the mission,” Houston stated in an interview.
Driftwood has differed from different U.S. LNG initiatives by inking long-term contracts linked to Asian and European spot costs. That uncovered importers to the risky spot market and finally value Tellurian a number of potential offers, together with with a serious Indian buyer, Shell Plc and Vitol SA.
Woodside “can higher take ahead the mission than Tellurian can,” stated Saul Kavonic, an vitality analyst at Sydney-based MST Marquee. The Australian firm “can treatment advertising and marketing relationships, funding, and operator functionality deficits. That is the sort of deal Woodside ought to be doing — the place Woodside can enter cheaply and add worth.”
U.S. personal fairness fuel driller Aethon Power has a non-binding settlement to purchase LNG from the Driftwood mission, after earlier this 12 months buying Tellurian’s upstream fuel belongings. President Gordon Huddleston stated in an interview that the agency seems ahead to working with Woodside.
Woodside has been exploring alternatives to spice up exports. Earlier this 12 months, it ended talks with smaller rival Santos Ltd. that may have made it one the largest LNG producers within the Asia-Pacific area. The corporate expects to carry potential companions into the Driftwood mission, and goals to promote about 50%, it stated in a presentation.
O’Neill stated on an analyst name that the corporate has already obtained curiosity to work collectively on U.S. LNG. The transaction is anticipated to be accomplished within the fourth quarter.
