Woodside Energy Group has agreed to acquire troubled US LNG export project developer Tellurian for around $900m.
Australia’s biggest oil and gas producer will pay about $1 per share in cash to take full control of New York-listed Tellurian, including the proposed US Gulf Coast Driftwood LNG project, it said on Monday.
“The acquisition of Tellurian and its Driftwood LNG development opportunity positions Woodside to be a global LNG powerhouse,” said Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill.
“It adds a scalable US LNG development opportunity to our existing approximately 10m tonnes per annum of equity LNG in Australia.
“Having a complementary US position would allow us to better serve customers globally and capture further marketing optimisation opportunities across both the Atlantic and Pacific Basins.”
Woodside is targeting a final investment decision for the first phase of the Driftwood project from the first quarter of 2025, reported Bloomberg.
If all four phases are completed, the Louisiana facility would be able to export 27.6 mtpa — almost triple Woodside’s current capacity and nearly 6% of the global total at the end of last year.
Woodside expects to bring potential partners into the Driftwood project and aims to sell about 50%.
Tellurian’s board has approved the transaction and recommended that shareholders approve it, Woodside said.
Completion is targeted in the fourth quarter.
