Louisiana’s Port of Lake Charles and the Panama Canal Authority have agreed to cooperate on marketing and other initiatives to attract liquefied natural gas (LNG) business. The canal is being expanded to accommodate the wider beams of LNG carriers; the canal is currently too narrow to allow their transit. The canal authority recently announced the rates it plans to charge LNG carriers as well as other shippers using the canal (see Daily GPI, Jan. 9). According to the canal authority, its agreement with the Port of Lake Charles will promote cooperation in marketing activities, information exchange, market research, training and technology, as well as other initiatives.

Cheniere Energy Inc. made a note purchase agreement with EIG Management Co. LLC for the previously announced financing from investment funds managed by EIG. The funds will purchase $1.5 billion of convertible notes with proceeds to be used as equity to fund a portion of the costs of developing, constructing and placing into service the Corpus Christi Liquefaction Project in Texas. The project is being designed for up to three liquefaction trains with an expected aggregate annual production capacity of 13.5 million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas (see Daily GPI, Dec. 31, 2014). The financing is scheduled to close once Cheniere reaches a positive final investment decision on the project, which is expected in the first half of 2015.