Malaysian state-owned oil and gas firm Petroliam Nasional, or Petronas, is in talks with Commonwealth LNG to buy liquefied natural gas from the U.S. company’s facility in Cameron, Louisiana, according to four trading and industry sources with knowledge of the matter.
Petronas is in talks to buy at least one million metric tons per annum (mtpa) of LNG from Commonwealth LNG, said two of the four sources, who declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
“Talks are at an advanced stage for at least 1 mtpa,” said one of the sources.
Several Asian countries plan to increase their contractual purchases of U.S. LNG to reduce the trade imbalance with the United States and escape high reciprocal tariffs.
Petronas has previously mentioned its key focus area of expanding its global LNG portfolio to meet growing demand, and that its supply from some U.S. contracts could be sold in the spot market to Europe or Asia.
Commonwealth LNG and Petronas did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Commonwealth LNG is developing a 9.5 mtpa LNG plant in Cameron, Louisiana. It received its export license from the U.S. Department of Energy in February having waited almost two years for it under the Biden administration. Commonwealth said it has seen an increase in interest from prospective buyers since securing its export license.
The project currently has almost 8 mtpa of its supply either under contract or under consideration, including 2.5 mtpa with Woodside Energy and 2 mtpa with Private equity firm Kimmeridge, which acquired a 90% stake in Commonwealth LNG.
Petronas has 20-year deals for 1 mtpa of LNG from Venture Global’s Plaquemines facility and 1.1 mtpa with Cheniere Energy.
In December, Petronas had also signed a 15-year deal with ADNOC for 1 mtpa of LNG, with deliveries expected to start in 2028.
(Reporting by Marwa Rashad in London, Curtis Williams in Houston and Emily Chow in Singapore; Editing by David Evans)