Energy Transfer wants buyers for 80% of equity in Lake Charles LNG project before FID

[steel long pipes in crude oil factory during sunset]
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Energy Transfer (ET [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/ET]) will not commit [https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news-and-insights/latest-market-news/2750557-no-fid-for-lake-charles-lng-until-equity-selldown] to a final investment decision on its proposed Lake Charles LNG project in Louisiana until 80% of the project has been sold to equity partners, company executives said late Wednesday.

The company has been developing the 16.5 million metric tons/year liquefied natural gas export facility and has sold most of the expected production to long-term customers, but is facing rising project costsand and wants to share the risk with equity partners.

"When you're chasing billions of dollars in projects, several of which we've already announced, we've got to be careful stepping out on something like this," Energy Transfer (ET [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/ET]) co-CEO Mackie McCrea said on the company's earnings conference call [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4838717-energy-transfer-lp-common-units-et-q3-2025-earnings-call-transcript]. "We're not an LNG company like we compete with. We're a pipeline company that has a regas facility converting part of it to LNG."

MidOcean Energy signed a preliminary agreement in April [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4429954-energy-transfer-midocean-energy-to-jointly-develop-lake-charles-lng-export-facility] to fund 30% of the project's construction costs in exchange for 30% of offtake, or ~5 million metric tons/year, but the two sides have yet to finalize the deal.

Energy Transfer (ET [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/ET]) also said it is looking to position itself to further benefit from booming power demand from data centers, and is considering the conversion to natural gas [https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/energy-transfer-will-not-greenlight-lake-charles-lng-project-before-80-sold-2025-11-05/] of one of its three pipelines moving natural gas liquids out of the Permian Basin.

"Some of the scenarios show twice the revenue with natural gas than what we might see with NGLs," McCrea said on the call, according to Reuters.

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