Chevron Corp. has signed a 20-year deal to buy liquefied natural gas exports from Energy Transfer LP’s proposed Lake Charles terminal in Louisiana, according to a statement from Energy Transfer released Thursday. BNN Bloomberg reported.
The deal is the first LNG purchase agreement to be signed after a major study was released by the Energy Department on Tuesday. The report examined the impact of increased US fuel shipments, which was the driver for the Biden administration’s pause in late January on issuing new LNG export permits.
Energy Transfer, one of the companies hardest hit by the permitting pause, is still waiting for its export license from the Energy Department to sell gas abroad to major importers. The delay sparked backlash from the industry and the company’s co-chief executive officer Mackie McCrea.
The deal allows Chevron to take 2 million metric tons a year of LNG supply from the export terminal, which was previously an import facility, according to the statement. Energy Transfer has several other agreements, including with gas driller EQT Corp. and Shell Plc. Chevron also has an LNG deal with producer Venture Global LNG Inc. for supply from Plaquemines LNG, which is close to start-up, and from Venture Global’s CP2 project, which also awaits its export license.