Aug 14 (Reuters) - British Gas owner Centrica ( CPYYF )

said on Thursday it will be jointly buying National Grid's

Grain LNG terminal with U.S.-based infrastructure

investor Energy Capital Partners for an enterprise value of

about 1.5 billion pounds ($2.04 billion).

The Isle of Grain LNG terminal, owned and operated by a

National Grid subsidiary, is located on the Isle of Grain in

Kent, England. It is the largest LNG import terminal in Europe

by tank capacity and one of the largest in the world.

Centrica ( CPYYF ) said its 50% share of the equity investment in the

terminal was about 200 million pounds, with roughly 1.1 billion

pounds of the total deal value being debt related to the

project.

The agreement, first reported by the Financial Times on

Wednesday, follows Centrica's ( CPYYF ) bid in July to hold a 15% stake in

the planned Sizewell C nuclear project.

Hong Kong's CK Infrastructure Holdings ( CKISF ) had been among the

bidders for the LNG terminal but withdrew earlier this month,

Bloomberg News reported this week.

Subject to regulatory and national security approvals, the

LNG transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of

this year, Centrica ( CPYYF ) said.

($1 = 0.7365 pounds)