MOL Commits $300 Million to America's First Floating LNG Plant, Online by 2030A · FULL TRANSLATION
- MOL reached FID on the first US floating LNG production project with a $300 million stake
- The stake is about 23% of total equity; project cost is estimated at $5 billion
- It is the first FLNG venture by a Japanese shipping company
With the Hormuz blockade rattling energy markets, the strategic weight of this deal is obvious. MOL finalized a roughly $300 million investment - 23% of total equity - in America's first floating LNG production project off Louisiana, alongside Delphin Midstream, GIP and Vitol, targeting 2030 startup with 4.4 million tons of annual capacity. Three angles: energy security, since Gulf of Mexico supply bypasses every chokepoint that Middle East cargoes must transit; corporate transformation, as MOL converts cyclical shipping profits into long-contract infrastructure cash flow; and the FLNG model itself - cheaper and faster than onshore plants, ideal for a geopolitically risky era. For energy watchers, the wave of US LNG capacity arriving around 2030 is a structural force capping Asian spot prices. Part of Japan's future electricity bill is being written on the Louisiana sea.
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) announced on June 4 that it reached final investment decision (FID) on the first floating LNG (FLNG) production project in the United States, alongside developer Delphin Midstream of Houston, infrastructure fund Global Infrastructure Partners and Swiss energy trader Vitol. MOL will invest roughly 300 million dollars, about 23% of the 1.4 billion dollar total equity, with overall project cost estimated at 5 billion dollars. It is the first FLNG participation by a Japanese shipping company. The facility, with 4.4 million tons of annual liquefaction capacity, will be moored about 40 miles off Louisiana and load LNG directly onto carriers, with operations targeted for 2030. Long-term offtake agreements are in place with Centrica, Expand Energy, Gunvor and Vitol, and a construction contract has been signed with Samsung Heavy Industries.