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Cheniere announced on Tuesday its decision to build Corpus Christi Midscale Trains 8 and 9, as well as the debottlenecking project.
The CCL midscale trains 8 and 9 project is being built adjacent to the Corpus Christi Stage 3 project and consists of two midscale trains with an expected total liquefaction capacity of over 3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG and other debottlenecking infrastructure.
Upon completion of the project, and together with expected debottlenecking and CCL Stage 3, the Corpus Christi LNG terminal is expected to reach over 30 mtpa in total liquefaction capacity later this decade, according to Cheniere.
Cheniere’s Corpus Christi plant currently liquefies natural gas at three operational trains, each with a capacity of about 5 mtpa.
In addition, Cheniere completed the first train at the Corpus Christi Stage 3 expansion project in March.
This project includes building seven midscale trains, each with an expected liquefaction capacity of about 1.49 mtpa.
The CCL midscale trains 8 and 9 project will be nearly identical in design to trains 1-7.
In February, Cheniere received approval from FERC to build two more midscale trains at its Corpus Christi LNG plant.
The firm sought approval from FERC in April to start site preparation activities for two more midscale trains.
Cheniere also announced on Tuesday an updated run-rate LNG production outlook, which reflects an increase in the combined liquefaction capacity across the Cheniere platform at Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi by over 10 percent to over 60 mtpa.
This includes CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9, CCL Stage 3, and identified debottlenecking opportunities across the platform.
Further expansions
In addition, Cheniere noted it is developing further brownfield liquefaction capacity expansions at both the Corpus Christi and Sabine Pass terminals.
The company expects these expansions to be executed in a phased approach, starting with initial single-train expansions at each site which, if completed, would grow Cheniere’s LNG platform to up to approximately 75 mtpa of capacity by the early 2030s.
With today’s FID and the existing share repurchase authorization, Cheniere said it is “on track” to meet its previously announced ‘20/20 Vision’ capital allocation plan of deploying approximately $20 billion of capital by 2026 and reaching approximately $20 per share of run-rate distributable cash flow.
Cheniere is increasing and extending its committed capital allocation targets, starting with a planned over 10 percent increase of its third-quarter 2025 dividend from $2.00 to $2.22 per share annualized.
Going forward, Cheniere expects to generate over $25 billion of available cash through 2030 as of this quarter, which the company plans to allocate across disciplined accretive growth and shareholder returns in the form of buybacks and dividends, as well as balance sheet management.
With this enhanced plan, Cheniere now expects to reach over $25 per share of run-rate DCF.
Cheniere CEO Jack Fusco said the company expects CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9 to be “executed seamlessly with Corpus Christi Stage 3, where Train 1 achieved substantial completion in March, and Train 2 achieved first LNG production this month.”
“We look forward to bringing this much needed new LNG supply to market safely, on time and on budget,” he said.
