By Curtis Williams and David French
HOUSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tokyo Gas is in talks with Woodside Energy over taking a stake in a multi-billion-dollar Louisiana liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
Woodside, an Australian oil and gas producer, this month closed on a $1.2 billion buy of developer Tellurian Inc, which put itself on the market after nearly running out of cash building a U.S. Gulf Coast facility that could convert U.S. shale gas into up to 27.7 million tons per annum of LNG.
Tokyo Gas Natural Resources (TGNR), the U.S. arm of Japan's largest gas and power utility, is holding talks on acquiring an interest in the project. The talks are ongoing and there is no guarantee they will complete a deal, one of the people said.
Woodside and Tokyo Gas declined to comment.
Woodside has said it is seeking equity partners to take minority stakes in the export project, now called Louisiana LNG. Chief Executive Meg O'Neill said earlier this month the company had received expressions of interest from "multiple parties."
Tokyo Gas Natural Resources owns U.S. shale gas production and late last year acquired rival gas producer Rockcliff Energy for $2.7 billion. It added to that deal this year by buying a 49% stake in energy marketing firm ARM Energy Trading.
The Rockcliff deal made TGNR one of the largest shale gas producers in the Haynesville shale region, which straddles East Texas and Louisiana. It can pump more than 1.3 billion cubic feet per day of gas.
An equity deal involving Louisiana LNG would be part of Tokyo Gas' strategy of securing gas supply from the United States, a strategy which already has led to several acquisitions, said one of the people who declined to be identified because the talks are private.
"Our aim is to create a U.S. gas value chain by linking our projects to increase the value of our investments, rather than seeking profits from individual projects," Tokyo Gas President Shinichi Sasayama told Reuters earlier this year about its U.S. strategy.
Woodside has said it hopes to be able to give a financial greenlight to the Louisiana LNG project by the end of the first quarter of 2025. Construction at the site has been underway and U.S. regulators this year granted the project an extension until April 2029 to complete the work.