US LNG player Cheniere fires up Corpus Christi production

US LNG player Cheniere said Wednesday it started producing liquefied natural gas from the first train at its Corpus Christi liquefaction and export terminal in Texas as the facility is preparing to ship its first-ever cargo of the fuel.

As previously reported by LNG World News, the 170,000-cbm FSRU Golar Tundra, which is being used as an LNG carrier in the spot market, arrived at the Corpus Christi plant’s jetty on Sunday.

An event to mark the commissioning of the Corpus Christi facility will take place at the Port of Corpus Christi on November 15.

The Golar Tundra is expected to depart the facility with the first shipment “sometime soon”, according to a Platts report. The destination of the cargo is currently unknown.

Cheniere has previously secured an approval from the US Federal Regulatory Energy Commission (FERC) to load and export commissioning cargoes at its Corpus Christi plant. However, the company has yet to receive an approval from the regulator for the start of commercial service.

Cheniere already owns and operates the Sabine Pass LNG export facility in Louisiana, one of only two facilities currently exporting US shale gas-sourced LNG.

The Corpus Christi facility is the company’s second LNG export facility and the third such facility in the US.

Corpus Christi is a three-train liquefaction project, with each train expected to have a nominal production capacity of about 4.5 million tonnes per year of LNG.

The liquefaction project is the first large-scale LNG export project to be built in Texas, with a cost of approximately $15 billion.

LNG World News Staff