Saudi Aramco to sign US LNG agreements during crown prince’s visit to Washington, sources say

LONDON: Saudi Aramco is set to sign two U.S. liquefied natural gas supply deals with Woodside Energy and Commonwealth LNG when Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits Washington next week, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The world’s largest oil exporter, Saudi Aramco, wants to become a major liquefied natural gas player, especially in the United States, where LNG capacity is set to almost double over the next four years. It has already signed deals with other U.S. players, including Next Decade’s Rio Grande LNG.

The firm targets 20 million tons per annum (mtpa) of LNG capacity, with 4.5 million tons currently in progress, Aramco President and CEO Amin Nasser said in a call with analysts in August.

Shell the world’s biggest LNG trader, sold around 66 mtpa last year.

Aramco is expected to secure LNG supply of up to 2 mtpa from Commonwealth LNG’s proposed facility in Cameron, Louisiana, three industry sources said.

Meanwhile, a deal with Woodside is expected to see Aramco buy a stake in the company’s $17.5 billion Louisiana LNG project as well as strike an offtake agreement to secure up to 2 mtpa of LNG supply, said four industry sources.

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Aramco declined to comment. Woodside said it does not comment on market speculation and referred to an earlier agreement to explore opportunities to collaborate with Aramco. Commonwealth LNG did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

For Commonwealth LNG, the deal will bring it closer to the 8 mtpa it plans to sell out of the plant’s capacity of 9.5 mtpa.

Commonwealth LNG is looking to build the United States’ first integrated LNG export facility that will see its major shareholder Kimmeridge sell gas from its Eagle Ford shale production to the plant.

It plans to make a financial investment decision on construction of the plant by the end of the year.

Woodside in April gave a final approval for its project - a three-train, 16.5 million tonnes per year plant that is expected to start producing LNG in 2029.