An Australian fossil fuel company committed Tuesday to build a $17.5 billion liquefied natural gas export terminal in Louisiana, following up on plans first announced 10 years ago.
Woodside Energy Group said it has reached a final investment decision to proceed with the project in Calcasieu Parish formerly known as the Driftwood LNG Terminal. Woodside purchased Driftwood less than a year ago, betting on a project that has encountered several stops and starts since 2017, partly the result of volatility in the fossil fuels market.
Plans include new production and processing facilities in Lake Charles that will create an estimated 16.5 million metric tons of LNG for the global fuels market.
Woodside announced later in the day it had reached a deal with BP to provide natural gas for its Louisiana facility, Reuters reported. Terms of the deal were not made public.
Gov. Jeff Landry touted the Woodside commitment as the largest single foreign investment and greenfield project in Louisiana history. In doing so, the Republican governor invoked a slogan his Democratic predecessor, John Bel Edwards, frequently used.
“Our ‘all of the above’ approach to energy is working,” Landry said in a statement. “We have four active LNG terminals in Louisiana — more than any other state. With more than 30,000 miles of natural gas pipelines, it is clear that when it comes to LNG, Louisiana is the place to be. We are not only promising President Trump’s agenda, we are delivering it!”
Construction began at the Driftwood site in 2022, and the company said its first batch of liquified natural gas is expected to be produced in 2029.