Engie Sells US LNG Terminal to Power Utility Exelon
US power utility Exelon said March 29 it has agreed to purchase the Distrigas USA LNG import terminal in Everett, Massachusetts from France’s Engie.
The purchase remains subject to regulatory review by the US Department of Energy (DoE) for import authorisation and, as necessary, authorisation from the US Department of Justice, but is expected to close in Q4 2018.
Exelon’s acquisition of the longest-running LNG import terminal in the US was included in an announcement that it would retire units 7, 8 and 9 and the Jet unit at its 2,000 MW gas- and oil-fueled Mystic generating station in Charlestown, Ma. in June 2022. Units 7, 8 and 9 are the only gas-fired units still operating at the plant; units 1 through 6 are decommissioned. The Jet unit is an oil-fired, 9 MW peaking facility.
The Distrigas USA purchase, Exelon said, was undertaken to ensure continued reliable gas supply to units 8 and 9 at Mystic until they are retired. Exelon will continue “Engie’s mission of providing safe, reliable LNG to gas utilities, marketers and other market participants throughout New England.”
The Everett terminal, which earlier this year took delivery of the first US-delivered cargo of LNG from the Yamal facility in Russia (87.8mn m3 at a landed price of $12.28/mn Btu, according to DoE figures), has connections with two US interstate gas pipeline systems and to a local gas distribution system. It employs 50 people, many of whom will become employees of Exelon after the transaction closes.
In an emailed statement to NGW on April 5, Engie declined to disclose the value of the transaction, but did say that Exelon has been a customer of the Distrigas terminal since the late 1980s, and that both companies had been serving the New England market since the 1970s.
“This agreement reflects Engie’s transition both in North America and globally,” Engie said. “Today in North America we are focusing increasingly on renewable energy both utility and small-scale, and [on] a range of services to optimize energy and reduce its use and expense.”
Everett was the first established US LNG import facility, opened in 1971. It has 155,000 m3 LNG storage capacity and 6.9bn m3/yr regas capacity, according to data in the latest annual report of the International LNG Importers Association (known by its French acronym GIIGNL). Engie adds that Everett's regas capacity is officially certified as about 7.4bn m3/yr by US federal regulator Ferc.
According to DoE reports, the terminal imported about 1.8bn m3 of LNG in 2017 and another 305.8mn m3 in January this year, the latest month for which data is available.