Cheniere Energy ups the ante in its battle with Venture
Global to be the US’s top LNG developer.

 

WHAT: Cheniere Energy has sent an application to FERC for
authorization of Stage 4 of its mammoth Corpus Christi
facility.

WHY: Construction of Stage 3 has been moving ahead smoothly and
is expected to be finished by the end of the year.

WHAT NEXT: Cheniere is hopeful that federal regulators could
give the project the green light by May 2027.

 

The US’s largest LNG exporter, Cheniere Energy (LNG), could be
on the cusp of a substantial expansion of its production as the
Houston-based company has applied for authorization for a massive
expansion to its Corpus Christi facility, Reuters reported
on February 5, citing a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC).

The Stage 4 expansion would increase the facility’s production
capacity by 24mn tonnes per year (tpy). The southern Texas plant
currently boasts a production capacity of 18mn tpy. However, the
export terminal’s capacity will jump to 25mn tpy upon the
completion of Stage 3, which is expected to be finished by the end
of the year.

If Stage 4 gets approval, Corpus Christi’s production capacity
of 49mn tpy would rival Venture Global’s (VG) Plaquemines export
terminal for the largest in the country. If Plaquemines proposed
expansion comes to fruition it could produce as much as 58mn tpy at
peak production, which represents a more than doubling of its
current nameplate capacity of 27.2mn tpy.

According to the filing with FERC, the expansion plans would add
four new liquefaction trains to the facility, each with a
production capacity of 6mn tpy. The Stage 4 expansion would require
about 3.3bn cubic feet (93mn cubic metres) of feed gas per day.
Cheniere is aiming to be granted approval by FERC by May 2027.

Cheniere has been the US’s largest LNG exporter since it began
operations in 2016, however, it is facing stiff competition from
LNG upstart Venture Global, which has been experiencing meteoric
growth since it began producing LNG in 2022.

Currently, Cheniere maintains a tight lead with a production
capacity of 52mn tpy, while having an addition 8mn tpy under
construction. Meanwhile, Venture Global has a production capacity
of 40mn tpy, but could leapfrog Cheniere with another 28mn tpy
currently under construction.

The LNG market’s outlook remains rosy with a number of
optimistic predictions by key industry players. The world’s largest
LNG trader, Shell, has forecast that
demand for the super-chilled fuel could rise by as much as 50%
globally by 2040.

Meanwhile, in its Energy
Outlook released in September, supermajor BP predicted that
demand for the super-cooled gas will jump to 900bn cubic metres by
2035.

Rising demand in Asia, particularly in China, which is the
world’s largest importer of LNG and is in the midst of fuel
switching from coal to natural gas to cut down greenhouse gas
emissions is expected to fuel this growth.

Additionally, another large market, India, is also leaning into
LNG for fuel switching as it shifts from coal to natural gas as
part of its decarbonisation journey. Moreover, a number of other
key markets in Asia that are growing, such as the Philippines and Vietnam are also turning to LNG as domestic gas reserves
dwindle and industrial sectors boom.  

And in the short term, the European market looks appealing for
US LNG exporters. As the EU shifts away from Russian supply, with
the bloc set to ban Russian LNG imports by January 2027 as part of
its 19th sanctions package, US producers look set to benefit.

This is even more certain thanks to a commitment by the bloc in
July to buy $750bn of
US LNG, crude oil, and coal exports over the next three years.
While the EU is cognizant of its long-term net-zero goals, US LNG
appears set to serve as a bridge fuel for Europe in the
short-term.

Certainly, these factors have created fertile ground for
optimism and the US’s biggest players are going all in. Venture
Global reached for the stars in a listing on the New York Stock Exchange in January 2025, hoping
to attract capital to give it the funds it needs to move ahead with
its fifth terminal Calcasieu Pass 3 (CP3).

Despite Venture Global stumbling on its initial public offering, the company has
remained incredibly ambitious and in November applied to FERC for
expansion of its Plaquemines project, which would raise the
nameplate capacity of the Louisiana project to 58mn tpy.

With Venture Global pushing hard, Cheniere remains keen to keep
a step ahead of its Arlington, Virginia-based counterpart.
Developing Stage 4 of its Corpus Christi project would not only
keep Cheniere ahead of its chaser, it will also be a statement
project that the US’s largest LNG exporter has no intention of
relinquishing that title anytime soon.

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