Commonwealth LNG sees new interest after securing export license

The owner of the Commonwealth LNG project said that the interest in the project has increased since the export license was granted by the Trump administration last month. In February, the U.S. Department of Energy approved an LNG export license for the Commonwealth LNG project located in Louisiana. This was the first LNG export approval since former President Joe Biden had halted exports early last year to allow for environmental reviews. The approval took away a lot risks for buyers, and this is something we've been waiting for more than two years," Ben Dell said on the sidelines at the CERAWeek conference in Houston.

"Yes, it has brought in additional buyers to the market."

Dell has not identified any new potential buyers.

Kimmeridge purchased Commonwealth LNG in last June. Commonwealth is building a 9.5-million-metric ton per year (MTPA), LNG plant in Cameron. Currently, almost 8 million MTPA is under contract or in consideration for the project. This includes 2.5 MTPA from Woodside Energy and another 2 MTPA Kimmeridge will hold to be traded. Dell stated that the Trump administration’s pursuit of tariffs against imports from certain trading partners had created uncertainty, as Commonwealth planned to source some of their construction materials from overseas.

Dell said: "Within our project budget, we've always included a line for tariffs. It is really about knowing where we want to get our product rather than changing any material." (Reporting from Curtis Williams, Houston; editing by Nia Williams).

(source: Reuters)