Louisiana LNG plant to begin exporting to U.K. in 2018

A British firm today signed its first liquefied natural gas import deal with Houston-based Cheniere Energy for 20-years’ worth of shipments from the Sabine Pass LNG plant outside Lake Charles, Reuters reports. The shipments are to start in September 2018. The deal, which includes enough fuel for an estimated 1.8 million homes annually, is the first-ever, long-term LNG supply deal for Britain, and it marks a breakthrough for U.S. gas in Europe. The 20-year deal has an option for an additional 10 years of shipments. Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the deal for diversifying the UK’s energy mix away from dependency on a small group of existing gas suppliers and for giving Britain its first taste of cheap U.S. shale gas. Home energy costs have been surging in the U.K. in recent years because of scant supplies. Reuters first reported earlier this month that Britain’s biggest household energy supplier, Centrica, was in talks with U.S. companies to secure the country’s first long-term LNG import deal in a bid to guarantee supplies and tame price spikes. Centrica announced today it would purchase about 1.75 million metric tonnes per annum of annual LNG volumes for export from the Sabine Pass plant. Britain currently depends on Qatar for much of its LNG, but high prices in Asia have seen supplies earmarked for the domestic market diverted to Japan and South Korea, depleting strategic stockpiles and sending prices to record highs.