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Financial firm acquired LNG project owner in June

Commonwealth

LNG to seek financial go-ahead in late 2025

(Adds details on impact of increased equity in the project and

type of investor targeted for Commonwealth at paragraph 4)

By Curtis Williams

HOUSTON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Energy investment firm

Kimmeridge Energy Management plans to reduce its stake in a

Louisiana liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project to 51% down

from 100% after it reaches a final investment decision (FID)

next year, Managing Partner Ben Dell told Reuters.

In June, Kimmeridge acquired for an undisclosed amount

Commonwealth LNG, which is developing a 9.5 million metric tons

per annum (MTPA) LNG plant in Cameron, Louisiana. The project

has applied for but not received a needed export license from

the Department of Energy.

"Our expectation is under financing we will drop down to

around 51%" stake in Commonwealth LNG, Dell said late Thursday

on the sidelines of the Gastech energy conference in Houston.

Dell said the plan is to increase the equity in the project

by bringing in infrastructure-type investors who by putting in

their equity will have the effect of diluting Kimmeridge's

overall shareholding.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration pause on LNG

export-permit reviews could be over early next year, he said,

projecting a FID on the project could follow in the fourth

quarter of 2025.

"My personal view is the inside date we can FID is late May,

the outside date is October depending on what the DOE does and

what they require," Dell told Reuters.

Kimmeridge plans to invest $1 billion of its own money into

financing the project and has most of the debt and equity

partners ready to go once the project gets permitted, Dell said.

Commonwealth LNG aims to market eight of the plant's 9.5

MTPA production capacity and retain the remainder for its owners

to trade, he said.

Some of the cash to pay for the plant investment will come

from Kimmeridge's natural gas production business that Dell said

is generating $400 million to $500 million in earnings before

interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).

"I would like to see us involved in more than one LNG

facility and we will evaluate the shipping, regas and further

downstream to see if we want to participate in that," Dell said.