US liquefaction giant Cheniere Energy is optimistic about bringing on its 10 million tonnes per annum Corpus Christi Stage 3 LNG expansion project early.
Cheniere president and chief executive Jack Fusco said Train 1 is over 50% complete and progress is “well ahead of schedule” with over 1,000 personnel on site.
Fusco said he remains optimistic that the company will have more LNG volumes online in 2025 and possibly the entire seven-train project could be online by the end of 2026.
Cheniere executive vice president and chief commercial officer Anatol Feygin said the LNG market remains “structurally tight and delicately balanced” with limited supply due to enter the market in the near future.
Feygin said that the last 12-18 months have seen record levels of long-term LNG contracting, particularly for US volumes.
He said the long-term Henry Hub linked long-term contracts signed in 2022 “far exceeded” that seen in the previous preceding six years combined with 2023 on track to repeat this.
Feygin said China is expected to underpin future long-term demand but European counterparties have also stepped up.
He said in total Cheniere has signed 15 mpta of long-term contracts in the last 18 months.
Asked about the potential for high freight costs later this year, Feygin said: “We have our requirements fully covered and our shipping position reflects that.”
The VP was also asked about delays at the Panama Canal due to drought. But he said with Europe being the market of choice at the moment this has had less effect.
In addition, Feygin said Cheniere could bypass the waterway and take the longer sailing route, saving Canal fees.
Cheniere turned around its first half net income at $6.8bn from a net loss of $124m in the same six months of 2022.
Revenue slipped to $11.4bn from $15.5bn in the first half of last year.
Cheniere saw its second quarter net income jump to 1.4bn up from $741m in the same period last year.
But revenue almost halved to $4.1bn from $8.0bn in the second quarter of 2022.
The company had 149 cargoes in the second quarter, down on the 156 seen in the same three months, due to planned maintenance of trains 1 and 2 at its Sabine Pass facility.
Cheniere signed three new sale and purchase agreements — with ENN, Equinor and Korea Southern Power Co — during the quarter representing an aggregate of about 76 million tonnes of LNG delivering between 2026 and 2049.
The company expects its supply portfolio to grow to 55 million tonnes per annum of LNG by 2024.
Cheniere raised its full year guidance on its consolidated adjusted EBITDA from $8.3bn to $8.8bn
The company attributed this to the $10Tbtu of unsold LNG volumes it is sitting on for the remainder of 2023.
Cheniere chief financial officer Zack Davis said some of upside was down to sub-chartering but this is getting smaller as the year progresses.
