Tellurian loss widens in Q4 2023
US natural gas producer Tellurian, which has put its gas producing assets on sale to help finance its struggling Driftwood LNG project in Louisiana, said February 23 it had a net loss in Q4 2023 of $166.2mn, a three-fold increase from its Q4 2022 net loss of $49.8mn.
Operating loss was $11.3mn compared to an operating profit of $47.5mn a year ago, while EBITDA declined to $21.7mn from $80.2mn. During the quarter, Tellurian produced 16.4bn ft3 of natural gas from its 161 producing wells in the Haynesville shale region, down from 20.7bn ft3 in the fourth quarter of 2022.
During 2023, more than 14,000 foundation piles were driven at the Driftwood site, de-risking site construction, Tellurian said, while the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a certificate for its Line 200 and 300 pipelines that will deliver gas to the terminal and Baker Hughes continued work on the fabrication of the zero-emission compressors that will power liquefaction.
Tellurian CEO Octavio Simoes also said a recent decision from the FERC allowing a three-year extension to the deadline for completing the 27.6mn tonnes/year Driftwood LNG facility and its possession of valid export approvals from the Department of Energy along with changes to its senior secured notes and senior convertible notes indicate progress in executing its plans.
“Driftwood’s recent FERC order extension to construct all five plants, with a capacity of 27.6mn tonnes/year, coupled with its non-free trade agreement export authorisation, have differentiated the project and have intensified our commercial discussions,” he said. “In addition, we have received very favorable feedback from interested parties on the potential sale of our upstream assets and believe our financial discipline will provide a sustainable path forward.”