“Together with Bechtel, we continue to advance our Corpus Christi Stage 3 project ahead of schedule and anticipate achieving first LNG from the first train of the project by the end of the year,” the spokesman said.
Cheniere initially said that LNG deliveries from the expansion project were expected to begin in 2025 with full production in 2027.
However, Cheniere’s CEO Jack Fusco said in August last year that the company plans to complete the expansion phase ahead of schedule.
The company confirmed in its second quarter report that it expects to achieve first LNG production from the first train at the end of 2024.
Substantial completion of the project is expected during 1H 2025 – 2H 2026.
Cheniere’s Corpus Christi liquefaction plant now has three operational trains, each with a capacity of about 5 mtpa.
In June 2022, Cheniere made the final investment decision on the Corpus Christi Stage 3 expansion project, worth about $8 billion.
Compatriot Bechtel officially started construction on the project in October of the same year.
The project includes building seven midscale trains, each with an expected liquefaction capacity of about 1.49 mtpa.
Cheniere’s unit, Corpus Christi Liquefaction, received approval from the US FERC on Thursday to start in service of the terminal supply line associated with the Stage 3 project.
CCL requested authorization on August 12 to place the terminal supply line facilities in service “at the earliest time possible, but no later than August 16, 2024.”
The company said that “hydrocarbons were successfully introduced to the system on August 7.”
Cheniere’s unit CCL is yet to release the September construction report.
CCL said in the August construction report filed with the FERC that the overall project completion rate for Stage 3 is 65.9 percent.
The project was 64 percent complete as of the end of July.
As of the end of August, Stage 3 engineering and procurement were 95.1 percent and 82.5 percent complete, respectively, while subcontract and direct hire construction work are 86.7 percent and 30.3 percent complete, respectively.
Besides this expansion, Cheniere plans to build two more liquefaction trains as part of the third expansion phase at the Corpus Christi plant.
Cheniere aims to take a final investment decision on this project in 2025.
In addition, Cheniere also plans to build two new liquefaction trains as part of the Sabine Pass Stage 5 expansion project to add up to 20 mtpa of capacity to the giant 30 mtpa facility.
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