The largest producer of LNG for export from the U.S., Cheniere Energy, gave an update on its project completion timeline during its latest earnings call. The timeline is largely the same as was presented in its Q2 earnings call. The original Corpus Christi Stage 3 project is now substantially complete, with the last train finished in mid-August. Midscale Trains 8 and 9 are now 59% complete and are still expected to reach substantial completion in the second half of 2028. The company reports that further expansions at Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi are still on track to reach FID, with an FID target of late 2026 or early 2027 for Sabine Pass and late 2027 to early 2028 for Corpus Christi.
Source: Cheniere
Cheniere discussed the current tight market globally and how that has increased the demand for LNG worldwide. They particularly noted the very low levels of gas in storage in Europe this year, where storage was only 72% of the 5-year average as of last month as seen in the chart above. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, most U.S. LNG has flowed to Europe.
Cheniere’s CEO Jack Fusco was specifically asked in the earnings call whether the Permian or Haynesville would be the main basin to ramp up production and feed the new wave of LNG liquefaction coming online. Fusco noted that Cheniere’s facilities “draw from all five basins and all the way up from Canada” and noted the “huge variability in the natural gas spec between each of the different basins.” However, he gave no indication of whether Cheniere favored one supply basin over the other.
