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The owner of the Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi LNG export terminals said on Thursday that its revenue reached $3.76 billion in the third quarter, down 10 percent from the previous year.
Revenue rose compared to $3.25 billion in the second quarter.
Net income reached $2.27 billion during January-September and $893 million during the third quarter, down 73 percent and 48 percent year-on-year, respectively.
Cheniere said the decreases were primarily attributable to $923 million and $6.1 billion of unfavorable variances related to changes in fair value of its derivative instruments as compared to the corresponding 2023 periods.
The LNG exporter noted the decreases were partially offset by lower income tax provisions and lower net income attributable to non-controlling interests during both periods.
Consolidated adjusted Ebitda reached $1.48 billion during the third quarter, down 11 percent year-on-year, while it decreased 36 percent to $4.59 billion in the nine-month period.
According to Cheniere, the decreases were primarily due to a higher proportion of its LNG being sold under long-term contracts as well as the moderation of international gas prices, resulting in lower total margins per MMBtu of LNG delivered during both periods as compared to the corresponding 2023 periods.
Raising guidance
Cheniere generated distributable cash flow of about $0.8 billion and $2.7 billion during the third quarter and the nine-month period, respectively.
The company raised and tightened full year 2024 consolidated adjusted Ebitda guidance to $6 billion – $6.3 billion and full-year 2024 distributable cash flow guidance to $3.4 billion – $3.7 billion.
In addition, Cheniere has increased its quarterly dividend.
Cheniere declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.500 ($2.00 annualized) per common share.
This is an increase of about 15 percent from the prior quarter.
LNG shipments climb
As stated above, Cheniere shipped 479 LNG cargoes during the first nine months of this year, two percent more than in the same period last year.
Also, Cheniere exported 158 LNG cargoes during the third quarter, up six cargoes compared to the same period last year and three cargoes compared to the prior quarter.
The company’s loaded LNG volumes reached 1,721 trillion British thermal unit (TBtu) in January-September, up 2 percent year-on-year, while the loaded volumes increased by 4 percent to 668 TBtu in the third quarter.
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 September construction report filed with the US FERC that overall project completion for the Stage 3 project is 67.8 percent.
Cheniere confirmed in its financial report it expects to achieve first LNG production from the first train at the end of 2024.
The company said it expects first gas into the first train 1 in about 2 months.
Substantial completion of the project is expected during 1H 2025 – 2H 2026.
In addition to this expansion, Cheniere plans to build two more liquefaction trains as part of the third expansion phase at the Corpus Christi plant.
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.