July 23 (Reuters) – Puerto Rico is ending talks to negotiate a $20 billion liquefied natural gas contract with New Fortress Energy NFE.O, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing a negotiator.
New Fortress was unwilling to discuss changes to the contract and missed a key deadline, the report said, citing Osvaldo Linares, president of Recoms Group, the island’s third-party procurement office.
Shares of New Fortress closed more than 6% lower. The stock has declined more than 74% in the past six months.
The U.S. energy firm has been struggling to secure LNG for its power-generation operations on long-term agreements. The company is trying to raise cash and improve its finances by taking on partners for its primary businesses and selling some assets following its deferral of a shareholder dividend last year.
Linares and New Fortress Energy did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg News reported Puerto Rico’s financial watchdog had halted the supply deal over monopoly concerns.
As a result of the talks ending, Puerto Rico’s government is now in discussions with four other companies to provide LNG to the island under 30-day emergency contracts, Bloomberg’s report said on Wednesday.
Linares told Bloomberg his agency has sent a formal communication to Puerto Rico’s oversight board saying negotiations had ended.
A spokesperson for the Financial Oversight and Management Board of Puerto Rico confirmed the receipt of the letter.
The letter was consistent with the watchdog’s observations that neither the third-party procurement office nor the government was willing to defend the terms of the contract which had been initially submitted for review in June, the spokesperson added.
(Reporting by Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Devika Syamnath)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025.
Join The Club
