Cheniere Energy Inc. has made a positive financial investment decision (FID) to proceed the 10 million tonnes/year (tpy) Corpus Christi Stage III liquefaction project (CCL Stage III) and has issued full notice to proceed to Bechtel Energy Inc. to continue construction, which began earlier this year under limited notice to proceed (OGJ Online, Mar. 7, 2022).
The fully permitted project consists of up to seven midscale trains, each with an expected liquefaction capacity of about 1.49 million tpy with a total production capacity over 10 million tpy, bringing Corpus Christi LNG’s total capacity to 25 million tpy.
The project is expected to begin providing customers with LNG by end 2025.
Supply agreements
Separately, two Cheniere subsidiaries, Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC (SPL) and Cheniere Marketing LLC, each entered into long-term LNG agreements with Chevron USA Inc. At plateau, Chevron will purchase a combined 2 million tpy of LNG from Cheniere subsidiaries, subject to conditions.
Under the first agreement, Chevron agreed to purchase about 1 million tpy of LNG from SPL on a free-on-board basis. Deliveries will begin in 2026, reach the full 1 million tpy in 2027, and continue until mid-2042.
Under the second agreement, Chevron agreed to purchase about 1 million tpy of LNG from Cheniere Marketing on an a free-on-board basis with deliveries beginning in 2027 and continuing for about 15 years. The agreement is subject to Cheniere making a positive final investment decision to construct additional liquefaction capacity at the Corpus Christi LNG terminal beyond the seven-train Corpus Christi Stage III project. The purchase price is indexed to Henry Hub, plus a fixed liquefaction fee.
Additionally, Cheniere subsidiary Sabine Pass LNG LP (SPLNG) and Chevron agreed to terms for the early termination of their LNG terminal use agreement in return for a lump sum payment to be made by Chevron to SPLNG during calendar year 2022. Termination is subject to the consent of certain lenders to Cheniere Energy Partners LP, expected in this year’s third quarter.
