By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Dec. 26 -- Cheniere Energy Inc. filed application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Dec. 22 for permits to construct LNG receiving terminals at Sabine Pass, La., and Corpus Christi, Tex., and two natural gas pipelines from the sites. One pipeline would extend 120 miles from the Sabine Pass terminal site to Henry Hub and another, from the Corpus Christi site to interstate pipelines 25 miles to the northwest.
Cheniere previously had acquired options for LNG sites also at Freeport and Brownsville, Tex. (OGJ Online, Dec. 6, 2001). Earlier this week Freeport LNG Development LP, in which Cheniere holds a 30% limited partner interest, signed an agreement with ConocoPhillips whereby ConocoPhillips would fund $400-450 million in construction costs for the proposed Freeport LNG receiving terminal (OGJ Online, Dec. 23, 2003).
"Since all of the 1.5 bcfd of LNG receiving capacity planned for Freeport has been allocated to ConocoPhillips and Dow Chemical, we are now totally focused on our next two sites, Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi," said Charif Souki, Cheniere's chairman and CEO. "Because of the strong interest our first project received, these terminals will be larger, each with two unloading docks, three 160,000 cu m tanks (10.1 bcf), and the ability to import 2.6 bcfd of natural gas."