U.S. energy company and LNG operator Sempra Energy has completed the sale of its non-utility U.S. natural gas storage facilities to a unit of energy private equity firm ArcLight Capital Partners.
Sempra Energy said on Thursday that the transaction, initially agreed in early January , was completed for $328 million in cash, subject to customary post-closing adjustments.
According to Sempra. ArcLight’s unit Enstor Gas will operate the facilities going forward.
Joseph A. Householder , president and COO of Sempra Energy, said, “ With the sale of these assets, we can reallocate capital toward growing our core electric and natural gas infrastructure businesses.”
The non-utility natural gas storage assets included in the sale are the Mississippi Hub storage facility in Simpson County, Mississippi, with a working capacity of 22.3 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas, and the Bay Gas storage facility in southwest Alabama, which comprises five underground caverns with a working capacity of 20.4 Bcf of natural gas.
The sale included Sempra Energy’s approximate 91 percent stake in Bay Gas. Immediately before the sale, Sempra Energy’s subsidiary acquired a nine percent interest from a minority owner and included it in the sale to ArcLight. ArcLight owns now 100 percent of both the Mississippi Hub and Bay Gas.
Sempra Energy added that its financial advisor for the transaction was Wells Fargo Securities and its legal advisor was Jones Day.