Jera to sell part of Freeport LNG stake to Japex for $380mn

Japan's Jera has agreed to sell part of its stake in the 15mn tonnes/year Freeport LNG export project in the US to Japex for $380mn, the company announced on May 30.

Jera, through its subsidiary Gulf Coast LNG Holdings, currently holds approximately 25.7% of the equity interest in the Freeport LNG project. The agreement entails Jera selling 15% of its stake in Gulf Coast LNG to Japex, resulting in Jera's interest in Freeport LNG decreasing to approximately 21.9%. The contract is expected to be signed in June.

"This partial sale of our interests is part of our efforts to build an optimal asset portfolio while taking into consideration the overall business environment," Jera stated.

Jera acquired the 25.7% stake in Freeport LNG in November 2021 from Global Infrastructure Partners for around $2.5bn. The company already has a 25% interest in Freeport LNG's first train and purchases approximately 2.32mn tonnes/year of LNG from the project for use in Japan.

Recently, Jera also bought a 15.1% non-operating participating interest in Woodside’s Scarborough project in Australia for $1.4bn. Woodside announced on May 30 the signing of a $1bn loan agreement with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to fund the Scarborough gas project.