Chesapeake Strikes 15-Year LNG Deal With Gunvor

U.S. energy company Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK.O) said on Monday it would supply a unit of Swiss commodity trader Gunvor Group Ltd with up to 2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) for a period of 15 years.

U.S. LNG exporters have seen demand for the super-cooled fuel soar after Europe imposed sanctions on Moscow over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, squeezing an already-tight global natural gas market.

Under the deal, the companies will choose a U.S. LNG export plant to liquefy Chesapeake's gas and deliver the LNG to Gunvor with a target start date in 2027.

The purchase price of the LNG will be indexed to the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) , which is a benchmark gas price in Asia.

The Chesapeake deal comes on the heels of a Feb. 28-deadline for the expiration of Gunvor's agreement to buy 3-MTPA of LNG from Tellurian's proposed Driftwood LNG export plant in Louisiana for 10 years.

Officials at both Gunvor and Tellurian declined to comment on whether their LNG sale and purchase agreement was canceled or extended.

Reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru and Scott DiSavino in New York; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Alexander Smith