Suitors in talks with Woodside Energy Group Ltd. (ASX:WDS) to buy a stake in its multibillion-dollar US Gulf Coast Driftwood LNG (Driftwood Lng LLC) development are also showing interest in taking part of its Scarborough asset in Western Australia. It is understood that a Japanese suitor is shaping up as one of the most likely buyers of a stake in the Louisiana project. However, DataRoom understands that there are suitors seeking to take a stake in both Driftwood and Scarborough.
A deal involving about 20% of Driftwood could cost a buyer about $500 million, according to market estimates, while a 10% stake of Scarborough may be worth about $1 billion. As earlier reported by DataRoom, Woodside has been inundated with offers for Driftwood LNG. Potential suggested buyers include EIG, Saudi Aramco, Chesapeake, some Japanese customers, US-based Williams or even an infrastructure group like GIP, which bought a 49% interest in its Pluto Train 2 joint venture - a component of Woodside's Scarborough development in Western Australia - back in 2021.
That deal resulted in GIP funding $822 million of its capital spending costs. There have been offshore reports that Tokyo Gas is in talks to buy a stake. Woodside announced its deal to buy Tellurian Inc. in July in a transaction worth $1.8 billion.
The deal included Tellurian's owned and operated US Gulf Coast Driftwood LNG development opportunity. A transaction would offset costs of the development for Woodside. Tellurian's Driftwood LNG facility in Louisiana has the capacity to export 27.6 million tonnes a year.
That is almost three times Woodside's output from its Australian projects.
