Total increases its investment in the Driftwood LNG project (US)

French oil and gas company Total has signed several agreements to strengthen its partnership with US LNG project developer Tellurian - in which it already owns a 23% stake - and to develop the Driftwood LNG project in Louisiana (United States). Total will invest US$500m investment in the Driftwood LNG project and will offtake 1 Mt/year of LNG from the project as a shareholder. In addition, Total will enter into a binding sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Tellurian to take 1.5 Mt/year of LNG from Tellurian Marketing's LNG offtake volumes for a minimum of 15 years, at a price based on Platts Japan Korea Marker (JKM). Moreover, Total will purchase around 20 million shares of Tellurian common stock for US$200m. The agreements are subject to relevant regulatory approvals and to a final investment decision (FID) on the Driftwood LNG project, which is expected to be made by Tellurian later in 2019, with first LNG production expected in 2023 and full operations as of 2026.

The US$15bn project is expected to include 20 liquefaction units, each producing 1.38 Mt/year, along with three 235,000 m³ storage tanks and three berths for the accommodation of the LNG ships. Tellurian's partners in the project are Total (shareholder), GE Electric and Bechtel as construction contractors. The construction will happen in 4 phases, with a first phase of eight trains (total capacity of 11 Mt/year), two storage tanks and two berths, followed by three phases of 4 trains (5.5 Mt/year) each. The third storage tank and berth should be added in the third stage. The project will also include a 96-mile (around 154 km) feed gas pipeline delivering 4 bcf/d (around 113 mcm/d) of natural gas to the terminal.