US LNG producer Cheniere Energy exported a record number of cargoes in the first three months of 2022, with 75% of them going to Europe.
In a first quarter results presentation, Cheniere said the number of LNG cargoes it exported rose by 20% to 160 from 133 the first quarter a year ago.
The company said 75% of these landed in Europe.
Cheniere president and chief executive Jack Fusco said: “The criticality of energy security and the long-term role of LNG and natural gas as a reliable, flexible and cleaner-burning fuel has never been more evident .. .”
Fusco said Cheniere had achieved record LNG production to “help balance the global energy market”.
“Today we are raising our 2022 financial guidance due to the sustained strength in the global LNG market and an increase in expected LNG production.
In its presentation materials, Cheniere guided that it is raising its consolidated adjusted Ebitda to between $8.2bn and $8.7bn.
“The current volatility in the global energy markets signals the need for additional investment in new LNG capacity,” he added.
Fusco said Cheniere expects to complete the remaining steps necessary to reach a final investment decision on Corpus Christi Stage 3 expansion project in the coming months. In March they gave the green light for early construction work to start on the 10 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) development.
France’s Engie and EOG Resources upped volumes and terms on their LNG purchases from Cheniere during the first quarter.
In April Cheniere extended its initiative on greenhouse gas emissions
The company announced a collaboration with natural gas midstream companies, methane detection technology providers and academic institutions to implement quantification, monitoring, reporting and verification (QMRV) at natural gas gathering, processing, transmission, and storage systems on its LNG supply chain.
Cheniere turned in a net loss of $865m in the first three months of 2022, a turnaround on a profit of $393m logged in the same period a year earlier.
The company said the decrease was primarily due to an increase in derivative losses of around $3.5bn and a lower contribution from certain portfolio optimisation activities.
Cheniere said this was partially offset by increased margins from LNG volumes and higher amounts of LNG delivered during first quarter 2022, along with the income tax benefit generated by the pre-tax derivative losses.
The US producer’s revenues soared by 142% to $7.5bn for the quarter from $3.1bn in the corresponding three months of 2021.
Cheniere Partners operates six liquefaction trains with a combined capacity of 30-mtpa at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana.
Cheniere Energy controls three LNG trains with a total capacity of 15-mtpa at the Corpus Christi LNG (CCL) terminal in Texas.
The company is expanding CCL with seven midscale trains with an expected total production capacity of over 10 mtpa of LNG. It expects to reach a final investment decision on this in “the coming months” after completing project financing.
