US LNG exporting giant Cheniere reported a 39 percent drop in its 2023 revenue due to lower prices, while its net profit jumped compared to the year before.
The owner of the Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi LNG export terminals said on Thursday its full-year 2023 revenue reached $20.39 billion.
This compares to 2022 revenue of $33.4 billion, which doubled compared to $15.8 billion in the year before.
Cheniere said the drop was mainly due “$9.1 billion decrease in Henry Hub pricing, to which the majority of our long-term LNG sales contracts are indexed.”
Net income was at $9.88 billion in 2023 and compares to $1.42 billion in the year before.
Cheniere said the favorable variance of $8.5 billion for 2023 as compared to the same period of 2022 was primarily attributable to a favorable variance of $14.4 billion, from changes in fair value and settlement of derivatives between the periods.
“The majority of the variance related to derivatives was due to non-cash favorable changes in fair value of our IPM agreements as a result of lower volatility in international gas prices and declines in international forward commodity curves, which changed from a loss of $5 billion in the year ended December 31, 2022 to a gain of $7 billion in the year ended December 31, 2023,” it said.
Consolidated adjusted Ebitda decreased 24 percent to $8.77 billion due primarily to decreased total margins per MMBtu of LNG delivered driven by lower international gas prices, the firm said.
Cheniere introduced full year 2024 consolidated adjusted Ebitda guidance of $5.5 billion – $6 billion.
637 LNG cargoes
Cheniere exported 637 LNG cargoes during the last year, down by just one cargo compared to 2022.
Most of these volumes landed in Europe, followed by Asia.
The company’s loaded LNG volumes reached 2,299 trillion British thermal unit (TBtu) in 2023, slightly down compared to 2,308 TBtu in 2022.
As of February 16, 2024, about 3,280 cumulative LNG cargoes totaling over 225 million tonnes of LNG have been shipped from Cheniere’s terminals to 39 countries and regions around the world, according to the firm.
First LNG production from Corpus Christi expansion project
Cheniere is the largest LNG exporter in the US.
The company’s Sabine Pass facility in Louisiana currently has a capacity of about 30 mtpa following the launch of the sixth train in February 2022, while Cheniere’s three-train Corpus Christi plant in Texas can produce about 15 mtpa of LNG and is undergoing expansion to add more than 10 mtpa of capacity.
Cheniere’s unit Corpus Christi Liquefaction said in the December construction report filed with the US FERC that overall project completion for the Stage 3 project is 51.4 percent.
The company confirmed in the results report that it expects to achieve first LNG production from the first train at the end of 2024.
Besides this expansion, Cheniere plans to build two more liquefaction trains as part of the third expansion phase at the Corpus Christi plant.
The firm’s results show that it aims to take a final investment decision on CCL midscale trains 8 and 9 in 2025, subject to regulatory approvals.
In addition, Cheniere also aims to build two new liquefaction trains as part of the Sabine Pass Stage 5 expansion project to add up to 20 mtpa of capacity to the giant facility.
Cheniere plans to take FID on this project in 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.