NJR Midstream to acquire Leaf River Energy Center for $367.5m

New Jersey Resources’ unit NJR Midstream has signed an agreement to acquire Leaf River Energy Center from Macquarie Infrastructure Partners for $367.5m.

Leaf River is a natural gas storage facility located in south-eastern Mississippi, US. It has connections to six interstate pipelines.

The facility comprises three salt dome caverns that have a combined working natural gas storage capacity of 32.2 million dekatherms (MMDth).

New Jersey Resources president and COO Steve Westhoven said: “By leveraging our market expertise, NJR Midstream is well-positioned with Leaf River to be a leading Gulf Coast service provider in one of the most significant and growing energy demand centers in the United States.

“This transaction is another example of our commitment to pursuing and delivering long-term shareowner value by acquiring high-quality assets with organic growth potential.”

Leaf River’s caverns, which are one of the high-capacity storage facilities in North America, became operational between 2011 and 2014 and support safe and reliable operations.

The facility has been designed to accommodate additional storage cavern, which would add approximately 13.1MMDth of storage capacity.

With Leaf River’s acquisition, NJR Midstream will now own interests in natural gas storage facilities in the Gulf Coast and Marcellus Shale regions, with a production capacity of more than 44MMDth.

The transaction is subject to certain contract conditions and is expected to close this year. It supports NJR Midstream’s long-term net financial earnings growth rate of 6% to 8%.

NJR Midstream is a natural gas and clean energy services company, which also provides transportation, distribution, asset management and home services.

Macquarie Infrastructure Partners operates within the Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets division of the Macquarie Group.