The final train of Cheniere's 14mn t/yr (1.9bn ft³/d) stage 3 project at Corpus Christi LNG in Texas is close to beginning production, the US LNG developer announced on Wednesday, as the expansion's earlier-than-expected startup helps the firm raise its 2026 output guidance.
First LNG from the expansion's seventh train is "expected imminently", the producer said in its earnings release. Separately, Cheniere also sought permission to flow feedgas into parts of the cold end of train 7 on Wednesday, according to a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), a request that has portended first LNG within the following week for the expansion's previous trains.
Cheniere expects train 7 to be fully on line and begin commercial service this autumn.
Contractor Bechtel has brought the seven-train expansion, which began producing LNG in late 2024, into service ahead of schedule, helping Cheniere tighten its production guidance for 2026 to 53mn-54mn t, up from 52mn-54mn t in the previous quarter and from 51mn-53mn t at the start of the year. The LNG producer told investors it has less than 1mn t of unsold spot capacity remaining.
The company has undergone minor maintenance at Corpus Christi LNG and its 33mn t/yr Sabine Pass export terminal in Louisiana throughout 2026 and intends to wrap up its planned outages by the end of August.
Cheniere reaffirmed its target to start construction on the first phase of an expansion at Sabine Pass in early 2027, pending FERC's approval by late 2026. The company signed a deal with Bechtel in May to oversee the engineering, procurement and construction of the 20mn t/yr expansion at Sabine Pass, the first phase of which would include a 6mn t/yr liquefaction train and 1mn t/yr of boil-off gas reliquefaction capacity.
The first phase is already fully commercialized. Cheniere has sold 10mn t/yr under long-term contracts that it can apply to its expansion efforts, the company said earlier this year.
