Uniper, Tourmaline Ink 234 Bcf Gas Deal

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Uniper, Tourmaline Ink 234 Bcf Gas Deal

Canada’s Tourmaline Oil Corp. has signed an agreement with German power and gas utility Uniper SE for an eight-year supply of natural gas totaling 234 billion cubic feet (Bcf). “Under the LNG Netback Supply Agreement, Tourmaline will deliver gas to the ANR SE trading hub in southeast Louisiana, USA”, said a joint statement Wednesday. “The […]

Canada’s Tourmaline Oil Corp. has signed an agreement with German power and gas utility Uniper SE for an eight-year supply of natural gas totaling 234 billion cubic feet (Bcf).

“Under the LNG Netback Supply Agreement, Tourmaline will deliver gas to the ANR SE trading hub in southeast Louisiana, USA”, said a joint statement Wednesday.

“The contract is based on TTF (Dutch Title Transfer Facility) pricing, providing Tourmaline with international price exposure”.

Tourmaline president and chief executive Mike Rose said, “This long-term supply agreement with Uniper supports the continued execution of our market diversification strategy. We’re proud to be supplying Canadian natural gas to meet rising demand in international markets and to enhance European energy security”.

Uniper chief commercial officer Carsten Poppinga said the deal showcases Uniper’s “further diversifies Uniper’s LNG supply sourcing portfolio, an important aspect of our European security of supply objectives”.

North American Power Exit

In the first quarter Uniper sold its North American power assets but retained its gas portfolio and hydrogen-related activities. The divestment contributes to the fulfillment of fair-competition guardrails imposed by the European Commission in approving Uniper’s bailout by the German government late 2022.

The sale covered “power purchase and sale contracts and energy management agreements in the North American power markets ERCOT (North, South, West and Houston), WEST (WECC and CAISO) and CENTRAL (MISO and SPP) through a number of transactions with several counterparties”, Uniper said in a press release February 5. It did not name its buyers.

Woodside Deal

Uniper’s gas deal with Tourmaline comes three months after Uniper committed to one million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 13 years from Woodside Energy Group Ltd.’s Louisiana LNG. The agreement with the Australian company also secures an additional supply of up to one MMtpa from the rest of Woodside’s global portfolio from the start of Louisiana LNG’s operation to 2039.

Louisiana LNG is under construction in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. The project has a U.S. Energy Department permit to export a cumulative 1.42 trillion cubic feet a year of natural gas equivalent, or 27.6 MMtpa of LNG according to Woodside.

On April 29 Woodside announced a positive FID (final investment decision). The FID is for phase I, which will build three liquefaction trains with a total capacity of 16.5 MMtpa. Woodside aims to start up phase I in 2029.

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