Cheniere cuts loss, revises 2018 guidance

The US liquefied natural gas export player, Cheniere, reported a net loss of $393 million for the year 2017, cutting it down from $610 million reported in 2016.

The decrease in net loss was primarily due to increased income from operations as a result of additional trains in operation at the Sabine Pass liquefaction project, the company said in a report on Wednesday.

Company’s net income for the last quarter of the year rose from $110 million in 2016 to $127 million.

During the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2017, 70 and 205 LNG cargoes, respectively, were exported from the Sabine Pass project, of which 2 and 14, respectively, were commissioning cargoes. Twelve cargoes exported from the facility and sold on a delivered basis were in transit as of December 31, 2017, the report says.

The total volumes of LNG loaded at the Sabine Pass plant was at 252 TBtu for the three and 735 TBtu for the twelve months ending December 31, 2017.

Commenting on the results in 2017 and the start of 2018, Jack Fusco, Cheniere’s president and CEO, said 2017 was a breakthrough year for the company and due to the robust start to 2018 Cheniere is raising its 2018 guidance.

For full-year 2017, Cheniere achieved consolidated adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $1.8 billion, within the guidance range of $1.8-$1.9 billion, and distributable cash flow of $0.6 billion, also within the guidance range of $0.5-0.7 billion.

Under its revised guidance for 2018, Cheniere anticipates a consolidated adjusted EBITDA between $2 and $2.2 billion while the distributable cash flow is expected to remain in level with the year 2017 at $0.2 to $0.4 billion.