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Through its subsidiary Gulf Coast LNG, Japan’s largest LNG importer owns 25.7% of the 15M tonnes per annum (mta) Freeport LNG export project in the state of Texas in the United States and will sell part of it to Japanese upstream developer Japex. Japex will also acquire part of Gulf Coast LNG, reducing JERA’s ownership of the Freeport operator to 21.9% when the sale concludes. The transaction is scheduled to be completed on 10 June at an estimated cost of US£380M.

JERA will continue maintaining a liquefaction agreement in the Freeport LNG project[1]. The company separately has a 25.0% stake in Freeport’s first liquefaction train and receives around 2.3 mta of LNG under a 20-year contract. The utility said the sale is aimed to optimise its asset portfolio.

JERA recently announced[2] ambitious plans to invest over US£32.0Bn to diversify its business into hydrogen, ammonia and renewables between April 2024-March 2036. As part of developing a global renewables portfolio, JERA acquired Belgium’s largest offshore wind platform Parkwind last July and aims to develop 20 GW of renewable capacity by 2035. In India, JERA Energy India is working with ReNew Energy to evaluate the viability of using renewable energy to produce up to 100,000 tonnes of green ammonia annually.

LNG, however, remains the primary driver. JERA plans to maintain LNG handling volumes at 35 mta until 2035-36. Last week, shipowner Mitsui OSK Lines signed the long-term charter contract for its latest newbuilding LNG carrier with JERA subsidiary.

This week, JERA helped secure US£1Bn in funding for Woodside Energy’s Scarborough gas field project.

A move that comes from Woodside divesting a 15.1% participatory interest in the project to JERA earlier this year.

State-owned Japan Bank for International Co-operation has agreed with Woodside Finance, a subsidiary of Woodside Energy, to finance the project along with private financial institutions, taking the total funding to US£1.5Bn.

References

1. ^ in the Freeport LNG project (www.rivieramm.com)
2. ^ announced (www.rivieramm.com)