OREANDA-NEWS. EGC NA today announced the conclusion of a 20-year precedent agreement as a foundation shipper with Gulf South Pipeline Company, LP (Gulf South) for the shipment of natural gas on the to-be-built Coastal Bend Header Project. EGC NA will be responsible for the 20-year supply of feed gas to be purchased free-on-board by EGC SE as LNG (Liquefied natural gas).

Concurrently, EGC SE has concluded a 20-year agreement for shipping capacity of up to two LNG vessels with leading Japanese shipping company MOL. The vessels will be engaged in a 20-year free-on-board (FOB) off-take of approximately 800,000 tons per year of LNG sourced from U.S. Gulf liquefaction projects, including the planned terminal near Freeport, Texas.

Leonhard Birnbaum, Member of the Board of Management of E.ON SE, said: “This transaction clearly demonstrates E.ON’s long-term commitment to building out our LNG business, which is one of the key elements of the broader EGC SE strategy. The feed gas supply and pipeline booking provide a strong platform to further expand our global gas portfolio.”

Christopher Delbr?ck, CEO of EGC SE, said: “These agreements are a very important step for our business. They build on our existing supply portfolio and provide further momentum, following two contracts concluded for Qatari LNG and our involvement with the Goldboro project in Canada. As gas markets in North America, Europe and Asia become increasingly interconnected, LNG will be a critical enabler for the optimization of E.ON’s group-wide asset base.”

About the Gulf South Coastal Bend Header Project

Gulf South plans to construct an approximately 65-mile supply header to serve the liquefaction terminal near Freeport. In addition, it plans to expand and modify existing facilities in order to provide access to additional supply sources for the header with an anticipated start date in 2018, subject to all necessary regulatory approvals. The shippers on the header will have the flexibility to source supplies from several third party pipelines directly connected to the header and access storage facilities throughout the region.

Shipping agreement details

MOL will provide LNG vessels under the agreements with a capacity of 180,000 cubic metres each. It is intended that Itochu Corporation will acquire a 50 percent stake in the project from MOL at a later stage. Delivery of the vessels is expected in Q3 2018 to match the start-up of EGC SE’s FOB off-take from North America. The design of the vessels will enable EGC SE to serve its existing regasification capacities in Europe and globally optimize its growing LNG portfolio, including transiting through the Panama Canal once its expansion will be completed.

About EGC

EGC SE is the energy trading arm of E.ON, one of the world’s largest investor-owned power and gas companies. As the commercial hub for E.ON to the international wholesale markets, it sources, stores, transports, markets and trades energy commodities on a global scale. The company also owns and operates a pipeline infrastructure business, which supports gas supply and trading activities, and an unbundled gas storage business.

EGC SE is involved in regasification terminals across Europe and has booked 1.7 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year of long-term capacity at the Grain LNG Terminal in the UK and 3 bcm per year of long-term capacity at Gate Terminal in the Netherlands. Further, EGC SE has access to Spanish regasification capacity in Huelva and Barcelona.

Established in late 2013, Chicago-based EGC NA is the E.ON group entity responsible for the trading and marketing of North American power and natural gas.