Norway’s Statoil upped its stake in the U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) marketplace this week, setting up an agreement for Tractebel LNG North America to deliver 34 Bcf/year to Statoil Natural Gas LLC at the Dominion Cove Point LNG import terminal in Maryland. No financial details were disclosed.

Statoil already has a project in the works to supply up to 2.4 billion cubic meters of gas a year from its Snoehvit gas field in the Barents Sea between 2006-2023 to domestic markets through the newly restarted Cove Point terminal (see Daily GPI, Sept. 4). However, until that gas is flowing, Statoil said it would buy LNG from other producers to supply the Cove Point facility, where it has leased one-third of the capacity.

The Tractebel deliveries would represents 40% of Statoil’s capacity rights at Cove Point. The term agreement is set to begin Oct. 1, and the primary supply source will be Trinidad, according to Tractebel.

“Over the past 32 years, Tractebel subsidiaries have supplied about half of all of the United States’ imported LNG, and this agreement with Statoil provides an excellent platform for growth in the near term,” said Dirk Beeuwsaert, CEO of Tractebel Electricity and Gas International. “Cove Point’s reactivation is further evidence of LNG’s increasingly important role in serving the growing demand for environmentally sound fuel in the United States.”

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