Statoil Enters US LNG Business, Buys El Paso's Import.

Oil Daily, The, November, 2002

Statoil Enters US LNG Business, Buys El Paso's Import Capacity

El Paso's liquefied natural gas business (LNG) made a tidy profit on the sale of an LNG purchase agreement and import terminal capacity contract that had yet to be implemented.

The company said Thursday that it had agreed to sell its purchasing rights to LNG from Norway's Snohvit gas production and LNG export project to Norwegian Statoil along with its capacity rights at the import terminal near Cove Point, Maryland, for $210 million.

Deliveries on the 17-year purchase agreement covering 1.8 million tons/year of LNG (250 million cubic feet per day) were not slated to begin until 2006 (OD Oct.19,'01,p2).

Statoil is, at least in part, buying the LNG back from itself, as it is...