In December 2024, Cheniere started LNG production from Train 1 of the Corpus Christi Stage 3 project.
“In February 2025, the first cargo of LNG was produced from the Corpus Christi Stage 3 project,” Cheniere said in its results report on Thursday.
Also, the company said that about 20 percent of Train 2 systems “turned over to commissioning and start-up teams who are beginning to place those systems into service.”
Cheniere made the final investment decision on the Corpus Christi Stage 3 expansion project, worth about $8 billion, in June 2022.
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.
The expansion project was 77.2 percent complete as of the end of the last year.
Cheniere expects production ramp-up for Trains 1-3 in 2025.
The company expects substantial completion of the first train in this quarter and all of the trains in the second half of 2026.
This expansion project adds to three operational trains, each with a capacity of about 5 mtpa, while Cheniere’s 30 mtpa Sabine Pass terminal in Louisana has six trains.
In addition to this expansion, Cheniere plans to build two more liquefaction trains as part of the third expansion phase at the Corpus Christi plant.
The company 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 facility.
Record 646 LNG cargoes
As of February 14, 2025, approximately 3,930 cumulative LNG cargoes totaling approximately 270 million tonnes of LNG have been produced, loaded, and exported from Cheniere’s terminals.
The LNG supplies have been shipped to 41 countries and regions around the world.
Cheniere loaded 2,327 TBtu of LNG in 2024, a rise from 2,300 TBtu in 2023.
The company loaded record 646 LNG cargoes last year, up from 637 cargoes in 2023.
The majority of these volumes were shipped to Europe, followed by Asia.
Revenues down
Cheniere’s revenues dropped to $15.7 billion last year from $20.39 billion in 2023.
The company attributed the decrease to a $3.8 billion decrease in revenues generated by its marketing function under short-term agreements between the comparative years due to declining global LNG and gas prices and a reduction of volumes sold under short-term agreements as a result of additional long-term agreements commencing in 2024 as compared to 2023.
Net income reached $3.25 billion in 2024, compared to $9.88 billion in 2023.
Chehere said net income declined by $6.6 billion primarily due to $6.7 billion of decreases in gains (before tax and the impact of non-controlling interests) from changes in fair value of derivatives.
Consolidated adjusted Ebitda reached $6.2 billion last year, and distributable cash flow was at $3.7 billion.
Cheniere introduced 2025 consolidated Adjusted Ebitda guidance of $6.5 billion – $7 billion and distributable cash flow guidance of $4.1 billion – $4.6 billion, with over 90 percent of forecasted operational volumes expected to be sold in relation to long-term agreements.
The company expects 2025 to be another record year for LNG production as Stage 3 trains are completed.
