Canada’s Tourmaline Oil will supply gas to a planned expansion at Cheniere’s Corpus Christi LNG export plant in Texas as part of a deal revealed on Thursday.
Cheniere’s unit Corpus Christi Liquefaction Stage III has entered into a long-term gas supply agreement with Tourmaline Oil Marketing, a unit of Tourmaline.
Under the deal, Tourmaline has agreed to sell 140,000 MMBtu per day of natural gas to Corpus Christi Stage III for a term of 15 years beginning in early 2023, according to a statement by Cheniere.
Cheniere said it would market the LNG associated with this gas supply or about 0.85 million tonnes per annum (mtpa).
In addition, the US LNG exporter will pay Tourmaline an LNG-linked price for its gas, based on the Platts Japan Korea Marker (JKM), after deductions for fixed LNG shipping costs and a fixed liquefaction fee.
Seven mid-scale trains
This Integrated Production Marketing (IPM) transaction would support the development of the third expansion stage at Corpus Christi.
“This latest IPM agreement with Canada’s largest natural gas producer demonstrates the breadth of Cheniere’s natural gas resource supply and the range of our commercial options,” said Jack Fusco, Cheniere’s CEO.
“This commercial agreement is expected to support our shovel-ready Corpus Christi Stage III project while enabling Canadian natural gas to reach international LNG markets,” he said.
The Corpus Christi Stage III project will include up to seven mid-scale liquefaction trains with a total expected nominal production capacity of about 10 mtpa.
Furthermore, the project has received all necessary regulatory approvals, according to Cheniere.
However, Cheniere still needs to make a final investment decision on the expansion project.
To remind, Bechtel has earlier this year handed over operational control of the third train at the Corpus Christi plant to Cheniere, marking the substantial completion of the liquefaction unit.
The Corpus Christi liquefaction plant now consists of three operational trains with each having a capacity of about 5 mtpa.
