Gazprom Global LNG Ltd. (GGLNG) and Sempra LNG, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, have signed an agreement that will allow GGLNG to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Sempra LNG’s receipt terminal in Cameron Parish, LA.

The agreement provides GGLNG with another route to supply the United States with LNG from its growing portfolio and provides the Cameron LNG terminal with natural gas for the U.S. Gulf Coast and East Coast. Under the terms of the multi-year agreement, GGLNG will pay Sempra LNG for the right to sell and deliver up to two LNG cargoes per month to the Cameron LNG terminal at a pre-determined price formula. The arrangement begins in June.

“We are very excited about the deal, which will help Gazprom group achieve its goal of expanding its LNG portfolio in the Atlantic Basin. This arrangement also provides Sempra LNG with access to additional LNG supplies. Our agreement is another important milestone in the growing relationship between Gazprom group and Sempra LNG,” said GGLNG President Frederic Barnaud.

Earlier this month J.P. Morgan and Cheniere Energy Inc. reached an agreement that gives the gas and power trading arm of the bank access to capacity at Cheniere’s Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana (see Daily GPI, April 5). “…LNG is becoming a very critical link between our North American business and our European business, and I’d say the Atlantic Basin and Asia,” Paul Posoli, J.P. Morgan head of global power, gas, coal and emissions, told NGI.

One year ago Gazprom affiliates, under long-term assignment from Royal Dutch Shell, took capacity in Sempra LNG’s Energia Costa Azul LNG terminal in Baja California, Mexico and downstream gas pipelines (see Daily GPI, April 13, 2009). This capacity provides an outlet for Russian LNG to access markets in Mexico and the southwestern U.S, Gazprom noted.

GGLNG is a UK-registered subsidiary of Russia’s OAO Gazprom and is headquartered in London. It was established in 2008 and is responsible for aggregating and optimizing Gazprom LNG supplies and entering markets through its marketing and trading activities.

Last fall Gazprom Marketing & Trading Ltd. (GM&T) and France’s EDF Trading struck an agreement for gas swaps between the United States and United Kingdom (see Daily GPI, Oct. 21, 2009; Oct. 15, 2009). And last June Gazprom Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev said the company hoped to supply up to 10% of the North American LNG market by 2020 using 17% of the output of the mighty Shtokman gas field (see Daily GPI, June 10, 2009).

Last May GM&T President John Hattenberger told NGI at GasMart 2009 that he foresaw no end to the linkage of global LNG prices with those for oil (see Daily GPI, May 26, 2009). The linkage to oil prices has meant that the United States has been a less attractive market for global supplies than other parts of the world.

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