US midstream company Energy Transfer is targeting financial close on its 16.5 mtpa Lake Charles LNG project in 2026, having secured sufficient offtake commitments to underpin project finance.
Amy Chen Davis, vice president of Lake Charles LNG, said marketing for the project is now “complete.” Management earlier had to delay FID on the $10.9 billion Lake Charles LNG export project to the first quarter of 2026, instead of year-end 2025 as intended earlier.
Revising its financing strategy, Energy Transfer recently announced plans to sell up to 80% of its equity in the project to strategic partners – in a quest to balance capital expenditure exposure with third-party investment.
Long-term sales and purchase agreements and equity-linked volumes are meant to provide the financial foundation to gain lenders’ approval ahead of the FID. A syndicated loan of $9.2 billion has already been arranged – but the remainder will have to be financed through equity and operational cash.
In terms of offtake, MidOcean Energy in June signed a Heads of Agreement, agreeing to fund 30% of the construction costs and receive 30% of Lake Charles’ total LNG production, or about 5 mtpa. Offtake agreement with a 20-year tenure are in place with Chevron for 2 mtpa, Shell for 2.1 mpta, Gunvor for 2 mpta, as well as 1 mtpa each sold to a Japanese and a German utility and 0.7 mtpa for 25 yars to China Gas Holdings. The above volumes add up to nearly 11 mtpa, yet Energy Transfer has long said it wants to secure up to 15 mtpa before taking FID.
Banks and project financiers are increasingly critical to support new LNG projects given as the length in global gas market builds up, rising the risk of falling LNG prices which would undermine project economics.
Seeking to downplay these risks, Lake Charles’ vice president argued that lower prices tend to stimulate fresh demand growth. “We can’t underestimate the power of demand catching up to supply,” she said at Reuters Energy Live conference in Houston on Wednesday. (December 11, 2025, Source: https://lngjournal.com/index.php/latest-news-mainmenu-47/item/115081-energy-transfer-nears-2026-fid-on-lake-charles-lng)
UNITED STATES - LNG - SUPPLIES - IMPORTS - EXPORTS