The US FERC said on Wednesday that it had granted Corpus Christi Liquefaction’s request to introduce hydrocarbons to Train 1 fuel gas and hot oil systems for the Stage 3 project.
LNG Prime invited Cheniere to comment on the approval.
A Cheniere spokeswoman said the company has no additional comment beyond what Cheniere CEO Jack Fusco said during the recent third-quarter earnings call.
Fusco said that the company expects to start introducing gas into the first train of the Corpus Christi expansion project in the coming weeks.
He said that “first gas is an important execution milestone.”
“And from a timing perspective, with that milestone occurring soon, it is consistent with the production of first LNG by the end of the year,” he said.
Corpus Christi Liquefaction’s October construction report filed with the FERC revealed that the overall project completion rate for Stage 3 is 73.2 percent.
Stage 3 engineering and procurement are 96.2 percent and 93.9 percent complete, respectively, while subcontract and direct hire construction work are 87.5 percent and 36 percent complete, respectively.
Cheniere’s Corpus Christi plant currently liquefies natural gas at 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.
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.
Cheniere aims to take a final investment decision on this project in 2025.
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 30 mtpa facility.
