Cheniere Will Make Investment Decision To Build A Third Liquefaction Train At Corpus Christi LNG Export Terminal -- November 14, 2017

I track the US LNG export terminals here. The original post was posted October 12, 2016.

At that post, this data point:

Cheniere: plans to build three more 4.5-MTPA liquefaction trains at its Cheniere's Corpus Christi facility

Updates

February 9, 2018: with CNPC deal, Cheniere's train 3 at Corpus Christ becomes more likely.  Wow -- China. Ka-ching.

Cheniere Energy, Inc. has entered into two liquefied natural gas (LNG) sale and purchase agreements (SPA) with China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), the Houston-based company reported Friday.

“These long-term SPAs build upon the Memorandum of Understanding we signed in November, and we look forward to a successful long-term partnership with CNPC,” Cheniere President and CEO Jack Fusco said.

According to Cheniere, CNPC unit PetroChina International Co. Ltd. will purchase approximately 1.2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG under the SPAs with Cheniere subsidiaries Corpus Christi Liquefaction, LLC and Cheniere Marketing International LLP. A portion of the supply will start this year and the balance will begin in 2023, Cheniere added. Each SPA term continues through 2043 and the LNG purchase price will be indexed to the Henry Hub price plus a fixed component.

Fusco also stated that Cheniere expects the SPAs to support the development of a third train at the Corpus Christi Liquefaction export terminal that it is building along Corpus Christi Bay in San Patricio County, Texas.

Original Post

Now, the update from Argus Media:

Cheniere Energy said it plans to make a positive investment decision next year on a planned third liquefaction train at the Corpus Christi LNG export terminal in Texas.

"I have a whiteboard in my office with a to-do list on it, and the only thing on that to-do list is to FID Corpus Christi train 3," Cheniere chief executive Jack Fusco said today on an earnings call. An FID refers to a final investment decision.

Cheniere is building two trains and associated facilities at Corpus Christi for $11bn. Each unit would have peak capacity of 5mn t/yr, equivalent to 694mn cf/d of gas, and baseload capacity of 4.5mn t/yr. The two-train project is 72pc complete and scheduled to start operating in 2019.

The Houston-based company has said it can build a similar-sized third train at a unit cost of $500-$600 per tonne of annual production, or about $2.25bn-$2.7bn for the baseload output. The third train would be cheaper by using existing infrastructure.

Cheniere signed some 20-year offtake deals for train 3 before oil prices dropped in mid-2014, but not enough to finance the unit. The company is negotiating with some large Asian utilities to sell more output from train 3, including potentially finalizing a preliminary agreement reached last week with China's state-owned CNPC.

Much more at the link.

LNG export terminal projects -- update in one graph, from this post (previously posted):