Jones Day has advised Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings and Asia-based private equity firm RRJ Capital on their agreement to invest $468 million in Cheniere Energy to help the U.S. energy firm fund the country's first liquefied natural gas export plant.
Reuters reported that Houston-based Cheniere, which has regulatory approval to build the project and has been seeking financing before construction can begin, plans to use the capital to help fund the proposed LNG export plant in Louisiana.
Cheniere has said it planned to build the LNG plant at Sabine Pass that would chill cheap U.S. natural gas into liquid form for shipping overseas by 2015. It would be the first of its kind built in the United States in nearly 50 years.
Temasek and RRJ are also in discussion to help Cheniere market and sell LNG to Asia, the two companies have said in a statement.
Reuters added that customers across the globe -- from Europe to India to South Korea -- have signed up for supply from Sabine Pass, bringing Cheniere closer to securing financial backing. In February, private equity firm Blackstone Group LP said it would invest $2 billion in Cheniere Energy Partners to help fund the plant's construction.
Natural gas in Europe and Asia is up to seven times more expensive than the United States, where record production from newly developed shale deposits has pushed prices to ten-year lows, according to Reuters, and low prices have prompted a string of U.S. export proposals over the past year as producers and developers look to make the most of higher prices overseas.
The Jones Day team was led by capital markets partner Joseph Bauerschmidt and assisted by Singapore based associate Oscar Tan and Houston based associate Elizabeth Peterson. Cheniere Energy was represented by Houston law firm Andrews Kurth. ALB
Ranajit Dam is Southeast Asia Editor at ALB. Follow him on Twitter: @RanajitDam_ALB.
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