US LNG producer Cheniere plans to ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a 5.5mn t/yr increase of its authorized capacity to export from its Corpus Christi expansion in south Texas.
The request covers the seven midscale trains included in the 11.45mn t/yr stage 3 expansion as well as the 3.3mn t/yr trains 8-9 expansion, which Cheniere sanctioned for construction in June. Cheniere asked in a 14 November filing that FERC determine if the uprate request is exempt from the commission's pre-filing procedures, as was the case with other LNG projects on the US Gulf coast.
Cheniere asked for the waiver by 21 November and anticipates filing the uprate application by 5 December.
The revised uprate would raise the expansion projects' combined capacity to 22mn t/yr. The buildout adds to Cheniere's existing 17.4mn t/yr Corpus Christi LNG export terminal.
The increased production is a result of refinements and optimization during the final design and construction of the stage 3 project, as well as data from the trains that are already producing LNG, the company wrote in the filing.
The first three trains of stage 3's seven trains have reached "substantial completion", the point at which contractor Bechtel hands control to Cheniere after the trains come on line.
