<div id="readability-page-1"><div>By Alison HealeyEnergy Transfer has suspended development of the Lake Charles LNG project in Louisiana to focus on allocating capital to its backlog of gas pipeline projects it believes provide &#34;superior risk/return profiles&#34;, the company said. &#34;Energy Transfer management has determined that its continued development of the project is not warranted by Energy Transfer but remains open to discussions with third parties who may have an interest in developing the project.&#34; Energy Transfer said in November it would reach a final investment decision on Lake Charles when it finds buyers for 80% of the project's equity. “We are in advanced discussions with MidOcean Energy related to its participation as a 30% equity owner of Lake Charles LNG with a commensurate percentage of LNG offtake,” co-chief executive Thomas Long said on the company's Q3 earnings call. “We're in discussions with other parties for the remaining equity we intend to sell in order to reduce Energy Transfer's equity interest to 20%.”Long said the equity sale was a form of risk management. “Our projects need to meet certain risk/return criteria, and we are not there yet on LNG,” Long said. “We will not proceed with LNG until we have secured 80% of equity partners similar to ourselves,&#34; said co-chief executive Marshall McCrea. &#34;And we've got some work to do on that.&#34; Long and McCrea said there has been substantial interest from potential partners.Financing for Lake Charles was previously expected to close by year-end. Reports have put estimated project costs at US$10.9bn and the project will export 16.4m tonnes per year. Earlier this year, Chevron signed an incremental sale and purchase agreement for 1m tonnes of LNG per year from Lake Charles, bringing its total contracted volume to 3m tonnes per year. Chevron's SPAs are for 20 years. Other agreements on the project include an SPA with Kyushu Electric for 1m tonnes per year and the signing of heads of agreement with MidOcean Energy for approximately 5m tonnes per year. </div></div>

Energy Transfer has suspended the Lake Charles LNG project in Louisiana to focus on gas pipeline projects with better risk/return profiles. The company is open to third-party development discussions. Energy Transfer aims to reduce its equity interest to 20% by securing partners for 80% of the project's equity. Financing was expected to close by year-end, with project costs estimated at $10.9bn and export capacity of 16.4m tonnes per year.

US – Energy Transfer suspends Lake Charles LNG