Woodside said in a statement on Thursday that the strategic partnership involves the sale of a 10 percent interest in Louisiana LNG (HoldCo) and an 80 percent interest and operatorship of Driftwood Pipeline (PipelineCo) to Williams for a purchase price of $250 million at the effective date of January 1, 2025.
The total proceeds received are $378 million including proportionate capital reimbursement since the effective date.
Moreover, Williams will contribute its share of the capital expenditure for the LNG facility and pipeline, of approximately $1.9 billion.
As part of the investment in Louisiana LNG, Williams assumes LNG offtake obligations for 10 percent of produced volumes, or 1.6 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa).
Woodside said this LNG production will be supplied to Williams under an LNG SPA for approximately 1.5 Mtpa and Williams will also receive the proportionate benefit (10 percent) of the Louisiana LNG 1 Mtpa SPA previously signed with Germany’s Uniper.
Williams will hold 10 percent equity in Louisiana HoldCo, with the remaining 90 percent of HoldCo currently owned by Woodside.
HoldCo owns 60% equity in Louisiana LNG Infrastructure (InfraCo), with the remainder being owned by US private equity firm Stonepeak.
Williams will hold 80 percent equity in PipelineCo and manage construction and
operations of the Line 200 pipeline, while Woodside will own the remaining 20 percent.
Woodside also said that its total capital expenditure for the Louisiana LNG project is now expected to be $9.9 billion reduced from $11.8 billion at final investment decision (FID).
Williams’ first investment in LNG
The US pipeline firm currently operates more than 33,000 miles of pipeline across 24 states in the US, and its Sequent platform has a marketing and optimisation footprint of more than 7 Bcf/d.
Woodside noted that Williams will utilise its extensive pipeline experience to construct and operate the Line 200 pipeline to the Louisiana LNG terminal.
Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill said this is Williams’ first investment in LNG and its participation in Louisiana LNG is a “testament to the quality of the project.”
“With strong LNG contracting momentum from Louisiana LNG and our portfolio, our existing infrastructure partner New York-based Stonepeak, and our key contracting partners including Bechtel, Baker Hughes, and Chart, we are on track to deliver first LNG in 2029 and create long-term value for our shareholders,” she said.
President and CEO of Williams Chad Zamarin said this transaction marks an “important step forward in Williams’ wellhead to water strategy – integrating upstream, midstream, marketing, and LNG capabilities.”
