ENGIE and a unit of AES Corp. have struck a 12-year joint marketing agreement, targeting the Caribbean for liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales.

ENGIE and AES Andres DR, S.A. (AES Andres) said they will jointly market 0.7 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG, largely to serve power generators that are being weaned from fuel oil in the Caribbean. The agreement will “pave the way” for the development of industrial natural gas demand as well as small-scale opportunities, the companies said.

Under the agreement, ENGIE will manage its commitment to deliver up to 0.7 mtpa from its diversified LNG portfolio, primarily via its supply from the Cameron LNG terminal in the United States, which is expected to come online in 2018. AES Andres will provide access to its regasification asset in the Dominican Republic, which has an annual capacity of about 1.5 mtpa.

Earlier this year, ENGIE and Gas Natural Atlántico, an affiliate of AES in Colón Panama, agreed for ENGIE to provide up to 0.4 mtpa of LNG at Panama’s Costa Norte LNG terminal beginning in 2018.

“This agreement underlines the value that ENGIE, as a major LNG player, can bring to utilities and end users such as AES through its LNG portfolio, its access to the global LNG markets, and ultimately its know-how in packaging natural gas as a flexible product that responds to its customer needs,” said ENGIE GLOBAL LNG CEO Philip Olivier.