Total Acquires Equity Stake in Costa Azul LNG Project

Sempra Energy and IEnova announced yesterday their Energia Costa Azul Phase 1 LNG export joint venture has signed an equity investment agreement with Total. Total will acquire a 16.6% equity stake in the export project. The project is located in Baja California, Mexico. Sempra and IEnova will each retain 41.7% ownership stakes in Energia Costa Azul Phase 1 LNG.

Last month it was announced a final investment decision for the construction and operation of the $2B facility had been reached. So far in 2020 Energia Costa Azul Phase 1 LNG is the only LNG export project in the world to have reached FID. Earlier in the year Total signed a 20-year sale and purchase agreement for approximately 1.7 million tonnes per annum of LNG from the facility.

"We are excited to extend our strategic alliance with Total, a global LNG leader, as we commence construction on our landmark ECA LNG Phase 1 project and help expand Total's North America LNG infrastructure portfolio," said Justin Bird, CEO of Sempra LNG. "This agreement is the next step in advancing our long-term strategy to provide the world with access to diverse U.S. natural gas basins that can offer reliable and more secure forms of energy from both the Pacific and Gulf Coasts."

The project plans to use natural gas supplied from Texas and the Western U.S. It will be a single-train liquefaction facility with a nameplate capacity of 3.25 Mtpa of LNG and an initial offtake capacity of approximately 2.5 Mtpa of LNG. ECA LNG Phase 1 will be built at IEnova's existing Energía Costa Azul LNG regasification facility. The equity acquisition by Total does not include an equity interest in the regasification facility. 

Sempra LNG and Total are already partners in Cameron LNG, a 12 Mtpa LNG export facility operating in Hackberry, Louisiana. Phase 1 of Cameron LNG reached full commercial operations in August of this year.