US LNG players boosted by offtake deal surge

The market is in a considerably stronger position than it was last year, giving producers hope of sanctioning new capacity

US LNG projects have seen a flurry of new SPAs over recent months. Developer Tellurian led the pack with three deals this summer for offtake from its planned Driftwood LNG terminal in Louisiana. Each of the deals was for 3mn t/yr over a ten-year period—covering almost all of Driftwood’s first phase. “There has very clearly been a pretty significant uptick in people signing contracts,” says Jason Feer, head of business intelligence at LNG advisory Poten & Partners. “The caveat to that is that there have not been very many long-term contracts of the kind that would support project development.” Feer points to the contracts of ten years or less in particular, noting that the repayment perio