After calling off talks to take an ownership stake in the project, an affiliate of ChevronTexaco Global Gas on Monday said it had finalized a 20-year agreement for 700 MMcf/d of reserved regasification capacity at Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Sabine Pass Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in Texas. The agreement also includes options to reduce or expand capacity.

Last Thursday, Cheniere’s stock fell more than 9% after the company announced that ChevronTexaco had broken off negotiations for an ownership stake in Cheniere’s Sabine Pass LNG partnership (see Daily GPI, Dec. 10). Neither Cheniere nor ChevronTexaco commented Monday on why the ownership talks had ended, nor did they comment on whether ChevronTexaco might be interested in a stake in the LNG project in the future.

“This agreement is a significant milestone in achieving ChevronTexaco’s strategy to create a high-impact gas business,” said John Gass, president of ChevronTexaco Global Gas. “Securing this capacity provides us with access to the key U.S. Gulf Coast market, which is critical to successfully commercializing our undeveloped natural gas resources.”

Keith Meyer, Cheniere’s president, added that “finalizing this agreement is yet another important development as we prepare to construct Sabine Pass. We welcome ChevronTexaco and we are proud to have this opportunity to work with them to satisfy our nation’s need for new supplies of natural gas.”

“ChevronTexaco is pursuing a portfolio of LNG terminal opportunities in North America to provide flexibility in delivering reliable and affordable supplies of clean natural gas to consumers,” said Gass. “We look forward to working closely with Cheniere to ensure the success of this project.”

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