Cheniere Energy has successfully finished its Stage 3 expansion at the Corpus Christi LNG terminal in Texas, celebrating a key achievement with the shipment of its 5,000th LNG cargo.
The Houston-based LNG producer announced that the Corpus Christi Liquefaction Stage 3 project was substantially completed on August 28. This milestone was reached when Bechtel, the engineering and construction contractor, delivered the seventh and final liquefaction train.
With this expansion, Cheniere has increased its total LNG production capacity by more than 20%, bringing it to around 56 million tonnes per year across its facilities at Corpus Christi and Sabine Pass.
Cheniere had given Bechtel the go-ahead to start the Stage 3 project in June 2022. The first LNG was produced from this expansion in December 2024, with the remaining trains coming online over the next two years.
“With the substantial completion of CCL Stage 3, Cheniere and Bechtel have once again delivered a major LNG project safely, on budget, and ahead of schedule, reinforcing our strong reputation in project execution,” said Jack Fusco, Cheniere’s Chairman, President, and CEO.
This completion coincides with another significant milestone in the rapid development of Cheniere's LNG export business.
The company's 5,000th cargo was loaded onto the LNG carrier Yari at Sabine Pass on August 29 and departed for Asia.
Cheniere noted that it reached this milestone faster than any other LNG producer globally.
This achievement comes just over ten years after Cheniere shipped its first LNG cargo from Sabine Pass in 2016, marking the start of large-scale LNG exports from the U.S.
Since then, Cheniere claims to have delivered over 340 million tonnes of LNG to markets worldwide, with its liquefaction facilities now making up more than 10% of the global LNG production capacity.
“Producing and exporting 5,000 LNG cargoes is an incredible achievement, and accomplishing this in record time – just 10 years after our first cargo – makes it even more remarkable,” Fusco commented.
The speed of this growth stands out especially when compared to Cheniere's earlier achievements.
The company shipped its 1,000th cargo in January 2020 on the LNG carrier Hoegh Galleon from Corpus Christi, less than four years after exports started at Sabine Pass. At that time, Corpus Christi had only recently sent out its 100th cargo, and the Stage 3 expansion was still in the development phase after federal approval.
Since then, Cheniere has sent out another 4,000 cargoes in about six and a half years.
Currently, the company operates the Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi liquefaction facilities, providing a combined LNG production capacity of approximately 56 million tonnes per year. An additional 5 million tonnes per year of capacity is under construction, and Cheniere is actively looking for more expansion opportunities in the LNG sector.