France's Total buys Engie's LNG business for $1.5 bln
Total said on Wednesday it has acquired the upstream liquefied natural gas (LNG) interests of French power and gas utility Engie for around $1.5 billion, in a deal which is set to make it the world’s second largest player in the LNG market, with a 10 percent share.
Total said the portfolio includes liquefaction plants, notably Engie’s interest in the Cameron LNG project in the United States, long-term LNG sales and purchase agreements, an LNG tanker fleet as well as access to regasification capacities in Europe, Reuters reports.
Total’s Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne told reporters in a call that the acquisition would give it a share of the markets in Europe and Asia, where Engie had some long-term LNG contracts.
“The acquisition of Engie’s upstream LNG business enables Total to accelerate the implementation of its strategy to integrate along the full gas value chain, in an LNG market growing strongly at 5 percent to 6 percent per year,” he said.
