Turning Driftwood into LNG gold: Woodside expands in the US

Company News

by Glenn Dyer

Woodside Energy has a new name for its latest US LNG interest and is targeting a final investment decision (FID) some time next year for the Louisiana-located project.

Woodside yesterday told the market it has completed the acquisition of Tellurian and its Driftwood LNG project for US$1 a share or US$900 million (around A$1.2 billion).

Woodside said the US Gulf Coast-based Driftwood LNG project would now be known as (the very prosaic) "Woodside Louisiana LNG".

It has total permitted capacity of 27.6 million tonnes per annum across five LNG trains - none of which has been approved or built, which is now the task ahead for Woodside.

CEO Meg O’Neill said in Wednesday’s statement that Woodside was targeting “FID readiness from the first quarter of 2025, with the experienced Tellurian team and engineering, procurement and construction contractor Bechtel having completed substantial work to advance the opportunity to this stage.”

She said the oil and gas giant has also received requests from multiple parties to enter the project as a strategic partner.

Woodside said the Tellurian deal significantly expands its US LNG position and would enable it to better serve global customers and capture further marketing opportunities across both the Atlantic and Pacific Basins.

“Woodside Louisiana LNG is a competitively advantaged opportunity. It is fully permitted, front-end engineering design is complete, and site civil works are well advanced,” Ms O’Neill said in the statement.

Glenn Dyer

Glenn Dyer has been a finance journalist and TV producer for more than 40 years. He has worked at Maxwell Newton Publications, Queensland Newspapers, AAP, The Australian Financial Review, The Nine Network and Crikey.

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