Cheniere requests FERC authorization to build Corpus Christi LNG Trains 8-9

Cheniere Energy Inc. has applied to the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for authorization to site, construct, and operate its 3-million tonne/year (tpy) Corpus Christi Liquefaction (CCL) Midscale 8-9 expansion at Cheniere’s existing 15-million tpy Corpus Christi LNG plant in San Patricio and Nueces Counties, Tex., along the La Quinta ship channel. The project will include two 1.5-million tpy liquefaction trains.

The application also asked for an increase in the authorized loading rate of LNG carriers visiting the plant and the addition of certain refrigerant, end flash and boil-off gas equipment designed to manage integrated operations once the expansion is placed in service. Cheniere, which entered FERC National Environmental Policy Act prefiling for the two trains last year, has requested that FERC grant the current application by Sept. 27, 2024 (OGJ Online, Aug. 31, 2022).

The company took final investment decision (FID) on its 10-million tpy CCL Stage 3 expansion in June 2022 and issued full notice to proceed with construction to lead contractor Bechtel Corp. It expects to bring this capacity online late 2025, with Trains 8-9 to follow.

Cheniere’s CCL Stage 3 expansion is one of three liquefaction capacity additions the Energy Information Administration expects to come online by end 2025, joining QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil Corp.’s 18-million tpy Golden Pass LNG plant near Port Arthur in Jefferson County, Tex., and Venture Global LNG Inc.’s 20-million tpy Plaquemines LNG plant in Plaquemines Parish, La. (OGJ Online, Feb. 3, 2023).