Tellurian

Houston-based Tellurian Inc. last week veered into the upstream sector, making a deal to buy gassy Haynesville Shale acreage near its planned natural gas export facility in Louisiana.

Houston-based upstart Tellurian Inc. appears to be the first independent U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project branching out into the upstream sector with its purchase of Haynesville Shale properties.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal developer Tellurian Inc. has been marketing LNG from its first proposed terminal and has received “positive feedback” from prospective customers, CEO Meg Gentle said.

Houston-based Tellurian Inc. (Tellurian), formerly known as Magellan Petroleum Corp. has closed its merger with Tellurian Investments Inc. Tellurian common stock will continue to trade on the NASDAQ under the new ticker symbol “TELL.” Tellurian has appointed Antoine Lafargue as CFO; he was previously CEO of Magellan. “We are developing large scale energy infrastructure on the U.S. Gulf Coast, including the 26 million tonne per annum Driftwood LNGfacility in Calcasieu Parish, LA, which is scheduled to begin construction in 2018,” said Tellurian CEO Meg Gentle. “We expect our next major milestone to be filing our formal permit application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for Driftwood LNG.” Late last year France’s Totalacquired a stake in Tellurian, as has GE Oil & Gas.

Tellurian Investments Inc. has attracted another investor to its mid-scale Driftwood LNG terminal proposed for Louisiana with the addition of France’s Total. Total is acquiring a 23% stake in Tellurian at $5.85/share for $207 million, further signaling a rising interest in LNG among major producers, analysts said.

Former Cheniere Energy Inc. marketing executive Meg Gentle has ponied up $10 million of her takings from that company to buy into startup liquefied natural gas (LNG) developer Tellurian Investments, which was co-founded by ousted Cheniere co-founder Charif Souki. Gentle will be Tellurian’s president and CEO, and a member of its board.