The company that kicked off the U.S. liquefied natural gas export boom nearly a decade ago is charging ahead with a planned $2.9 billion expansion of an existing Texas terminal.
Houston-based Cheniere Energy announced a final investment decision Tuesday for units 8 and 9 at its liquefaction facility near Corpus Christi, Texas. Four liquefaction units, or trains, already operating at the site produce about 16.5 million metric tons of gas combined per year.
The expansion decision by Cheniere’s board of directors — along with other work at the site — will help to bring the Texas facility’s total liquefaction capacity to more than 30 million metric tons of LNG per year “later this decade,” according to a company news release. That would put the South Texas terminal on par with Cheniere’s Sabine Pass facility in southwest Louisiana, which has six fully operational liquefaction trains that are each capable of producing about 5 million metric tons of LNG per year.
On Tuesday, Cheniere also said it has issued a notice to Bechtel to move ahead with construction on trains 8 and 9. Cheniere is aiming to have those units up and running in 2028. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the two midscale trains at the Corpus Christi site earlier this year.
