Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi Liquefaction (CCL) facility's Stage 3 liquefied natural gas (LNG) project produced LNG for the first time from Train 1 in late December. The commissioning process on CCL Stage 3 continues, and Cheniere expects substantial completion of Train 1 to be achieved at the end of the first quarter of 2025, over 6 months ahead of the guaranteed completion date.
Upon substantial completion, contractor Bechtel Energy, will transfer care, custody, and control of the completed train to Cheniere.
Full notice to proceed on CCL Stage 3 was issued to Bechtel by Cheniere in June 2022. CCL Stage 3 consists of seven midscale trains, with an expected total production capacity of over 10 mtpa of LNG. According to Cheniere, as of 30 November, overall project completion for CCL Stage 3 was 75.9%, which reflects engineering 96.8% complete, procurement 97.2% complete, subcontract work 87.7% complete, and construction 39.2% complete.
Upon substantial completion of all seven trains of CCL Stage 3, the expected total production capacity of the CCL facility will be over 25 mtpa of LNG.
Two additional midscale trains are expected to achieve substantial completion in 2025, and the remaining four midscale trains are expected to reach substantial completion in 2026.
Cheniere has also proposed an expansion to add two additional midscale trains (8 and 9) to the facilities. Beyond the additional two additional midscale liquefaction trains the project would add numerous operational optimizations such as refrigerant storage facilities, additional boil-off-gas compression, and ship loading optimizations.
Feed gas for the project would be transported to the CCL Terminal by the existing Corpus Christi Pipeline system and an intrastate pipeline.
Cheniere filed the application to proceed with the Trains 8 and 9 expansion with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in March 2023.
