Were the plans for Louisiana’s Driftwood LNG stolen from Cheniere Energy?
That’s the question at the heart of a trial set to begin early February in Harris County District Court in Houston in a case that pits billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn, 83, against Charif Souki, the trailblazing tycoon of liquefied natural gas.
As Forbes details, Icahn and Souki, 66, tangled in 2015 when the investor acquired a 15% stake in Cheniere Energy, where Souki was CEO. Icahn got two seats on the board and soon had Souki fired—in part over a disagreement whether to pursue a second LNG project in Louisiana.
In the case, Cheniere alleges, in part, that Souki—who was at the helm of Cheniere during the building of its first major LNG project in Louisiana, Sabine Pass—stole early plans for a second LNG plant in the state, and used them as the foundation of his new company, Tellurian Energy. In the lawsuit, Cheniere claims Souki and Tellurian owe $47 million loaned to fund early development work by consultancy firm Parallax Energy.
But Souki’s side counters that the two projects—despite sharing some land—aren’t the same at all, and that Driftwood is much bigger. Besides, according to deposition testimony, the loan is void based on a later agreement to which the Cheniere board itself had agreed.
Driftwood LNG is a megaplant, to be built by Bechtel on 1,000 currently bare acres in Lake Charles at a cost of $30 billion. It will chill 4 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day into a minus 260-degree liquid, then pump it into insulated supertankers for export to ports like Tokyo or Seoul. Tellurian’s partners in Driftwood include Total, Vitol and India’s Petronet.
This story originally appeared in 10/12 Industry Report. To keep up with regional industry news, subscribe to the free 10/12 Weekly e-newsletter.
