Under the terms of the offtake agreement, which has yet to be formally signed, BG subsidiary BG Gas Marketingwill purchase the entire output of train 2, to be supplied to BG LNG Servicesfor the import terminal at Lake Charles in Louisiana, the largest LNG regassification terminal in the US. A second sales and purchase agreement provides for unspecified volumes of LNG to be switched to the proposed import terminal at Brindisi in Italy, which is being developed by BG with the local Enel. 'Brindisi is so much closer to Egypt so it would seem to be a natural fit,' says a BG spokesperson. 'We haven't announced any formal sales contract yet, but we are confident that with the involvement of Enel we can easily find a market for the gas in Italy.'

The first train offtaker is Gaz de France, which has a 5 per cent stake in ELNG's holding company for train 1. BG holds a 35.5 per cent stake, as does Petronasof Malaysia, after the company agreed to buy the stake held by Edison Internationalof Italy as part of a $1,750 million package agreed in late April.

The government stakeholders in ELNG are Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas) and Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), which each own 12 per cent. The two state-owned companies have also reached an agreement to take a stake in a second LNG project being developed by Union Fenosa Gas of Spain at Damietta (see above).

Gaz de France will not have a stake in the ELNG holding company responsible for train 2. The 5 per cent shareholding will be divided equally between BG and Petronas.