Blackstone sells stake in Cheniere Energy Partners for $7bn

US-based private equity firm Blackstone Group has announced that it has completed the sale of its 42% stake in Cheniere Energy Partners to Brookfield Infrastructure and funds managed by Blackstone Infrastructure Partners.

The deal is valued at $7bn.

Cheniere Energy Partners is a limited partnership formed by US-based liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer Cheniere Energy.

The private equity firm noted that the $7bn sale represents the ‘culmination’ of Blackstone Energy Partners’ involvement with Cheniere.

In 2012, Blackstone Energy invested $1.5bn in Cheniere Energy Partners to build the Sabine Pass LNG facility in Louisiana, US.

Blackstone Energy Partners Global Head David Foley said: “Blackstone’s early equity commitment to Cheniere enabled the timely construction of Sabine Pass, the first LNG export facility in the lower 48 states and one of the largest construction projects in the US.

“I’m proud of the success of the project, the support we were able to provide to Cheniere’s outstanding executive management team as they ably dealt with various challenges over the years, and the tremendous return we delivered for our investors.”

The Sabine Pass liquefaction project will have a production capacity of about 30 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG through its six trains.

Five of the LNG trains at the Sabine Pass are in full operations, while a sixth is currently under construction.

The sixth train is expected to be placed into service in 2023.

As of 30 June this year, Cheniere Partners achieved over 63% in project completion for the sixth train.

When operating at full capacity, the six-train project is expected to process over 4.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) of natural gas into LNG.

Cheniere CEO Jack Fusco said: “Today, Sabine Pass is a world-scale LNG complex, providing flexible, reliable, and cost competitive US LNG to markets worldwide, and I would like to thank David Foley and the Blackstone team for their contributions to Cheniere’s many successes.

“We still have much to accomplish at Cheniere, and I look forward to working alongside Blackstone Infrastructure Partners and Brookfield Infrastructure Management to achieve our shared goals.”

Last month, Blackstone Group reportedly said it would sell its stake in Cheniere Energy Partners to Brookfield Infrastructure and its own affiliated company.