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Aramco deals bolster US LNG as company eyes stakes in export projects
Saudi state-owned oil major Aramco says it is looking at taking an equity interest in and LNG offtake from the Louisiana LNG project and Port Arthur LNG 2
Aramco has entered into a collaboration agreement with Australia’s Woodside Energy as part of a raft of deals the Saudi Arabian company signed in Riyadh at a Saudi-US Investment Forum attended by Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and US President Donald Trump.
Aramco said its 34 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and agreements with "US companies" have a potential total value of approximately US$90Bn.
The deals "aim to build on the longstanding relationship between Aramco and US companies," according to Aramco. And the deal comes during a period in which US President Donald Trump has been wielding tariffs and threats of tariffs in an attempt to ’rebalance’ trade relationships.
Woodside Energy, headquartered in Australia, has been included in Aramco’s flurry of deal-making around US companies, with Aramco saying the companies have agreed "to explore global opportunities, including an equity interest and LNG offtake from the Louisiana LNG project".
A collaboration around "lower-carbon ammonia" is also under discussion, according to Aramco.
Among its agreements with US companies, Aramco made a deal with LNG terminal developer NextDecade to purchase 1.2 mta of LNG for a 20-year term from Train 4 of the Rio Grande LNG Facility, subject to a positive final investment decision of Train 4. In mid-April, announcing a similar offtake deal with TotalEnergies, NextDecade said it had contracted 4.6 mta of LNG from its Rio Grande Train 4 on long-term sale and purchase agreements and it expects the deals to enable the company to take an FID.
Aramco also signed an MoU with Sempra Infrastructure looking at an equity and offtake stake in Port Arthur LNG 2.
Woodside’s rapid progress in gathering investment in Louisiana LNG
Woodside Energy decided in late April that it would move ahead with the US LNG facility that it bought from Tellurian for US$1.2Bn in mid-2024. The company announced a final investment decision (FID) to develop the three-train, 16.5M tonnes per annum (mta) Louisiana LNG development on 29 April 2025.
Earlier in April, Woodside sold a 40% stake in Louisiana LNG to US-based infrastructure investment firm Stonepeak and announced a long-term supply purchase from BP for up to 640 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas a year from the oil and gas major. Under the agreement, Louisiana LNG subsidiary GasCo will buy gas from BP starting in 2029 for delivery via pipeline, and Woodside said it is targeting first gas from Louisiana LNG in 2029.
Woodside said its forecast for total capital expenditure on the LNG project, pipeline and management reserve is US$17.5Bn. In the investment deal, Stonepeak agreed to take on US$5.7Bn of the total expenses in initial financial projections, with Woodside paying US$11.8Bn.
Woodside has reportedly been courting additional investment in the project, with Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill telling the Wall Street Journal the company is in talks with a "couple of parties" and wants to cut its capital expenditures on the project roughly by half.
The Woodside chief executive called the non-binding collaboration agreement with Aramco "another demonstration of the ongoing interest Louisiana LNG is generating among high-quality potential investors, following our recent agreement with Stonepeak to acquire a 40% interest in the project’s infrastructure holding company".
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