Cheniere, Gas Natural LNG Deal Worth $13b

A 20-year liquefied natural gas (LNGLF) (LNG) sale-and-purchase agreement between Cheniere Energy (LNG) and Gas Natural Fenosa announced on Monday is worth $13 billion, a source with knowledge of the deal said.

The two companies did not disclose the value of the agreement when they made it public earlier on Monday.

The deal foresees Gas Natural buying 1.5 million metric tons per year of LNG from Cheniere's proposed plant in Corpus Christi, Texas, starting in 2019.

Booming natural gas output from U.S. shale deposits has unlocked plentiful, cheap gas that producers want to liquefy for export to higher paying markets overseas.

Gas Natural Fenosa last month said it would start receiving LNG from another Cheniere plant in Louisiana in the second quarter of 2016, about a year ahead of schedule.

Spain's other main utilities Endesa (ELE.MC) and Iberdrola (IBE.MC) have also signed 20-year LNG sale-and-purchase agreements with Cheniere to begin in 2019.

(Reporting by Tomas Gonzalez Cobos, writing by Julien Toyer,; Editing by Tracy Rucinski and David Goodman)