Cheniere Energy, Inc.
For the period ended Mar 31, 2025. Filed May 8, 2025.
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A company's report for each of its first three quarters. The financial statements are not audited. It shows how the business has moved since the last annual report, and what management says changed.
Mar 31, 2025 · Filed May 8, 2025
Contents
Overview
Cheniere, a Delaware corporation, is a Houston-based energy infrastructure company primarily engaged in LNG-related businesses. We provide clean, secure and affordable LNG to integrated energy companies, utilities and energy trading companies around the world. We aspire to conduct our business in a safe and responsible manner, delivering a reliable, competitive and integrated source of LNG to our customers.
LNG is natural gas (methane) in liquid form. The LNG we produce is shipped all over the world, converted back into natural gas (called “regasification”) and then transported via pipeline to homes and businesses and used as an energy source that is essential for heating, cooking, other industrial uses and back up for intermittent energy sources. Natural gas is a cleaner-burning, abundant and affordable source of energy. When LNG is converted back to natural gas, it can be used instead of coal, which reduces the amount of pollution traditionally produced from burning fossil fuels, like sulfur dioxide and particulate matter that enters the air we breathe. Additionally, compared to coal, it produces significantly fewer carbon emissions. By liquefying natural gas, we are able to reduce its volume by 600 times so that we can load it onto special LNG carriers designed to keep the LNG cold and in liquid form for efficient transport overseas.
We are the largest producer of LNG in the United States and we were the second largest LNG operator globally, based on our total production capacity of our liquefaction facilities as of March 31, 2025. Our total production capacity is expected to be over 55 mtpa upon completion of over 8 mtpa that remains under construction, as further discussed below.
We own and operate a natural gas liquefaction and export facility located in Cameron Parish, Louisiana at Sabine Pass (the“Sabine Pass LNG Terminal”), one of the largest LNG production facilities in the world, through our ownership interest in and management agreements with CQP, which is a publicly traded limited partnership that we formed in 2007. As of March 31, 2025, we owned 100% of the general partner interest, a 48.6% limited partner interest and 100% of the incentive distribution rights of CQP. The Sabine Pass LNG Terminal has natural gas liquefaction facilities with total production capacity of approximately 30 mtpa of LNG (the“SPL Project”). The Sabine Pass LNG Terminal also has five LNG storage tanks with aggregate capacity of approximately 17 Bcfe and vaporizers with regasification capacity of approximately 4 Bcf/d, as well as three marine berths, two of which can accommodate vessels with nominal capacity of up to 266,000 cubic meters and the third berth which can accommodate vessels with nominal capacity of up to 200,000 cubic meters. We also own and operate through
CQP a 94-mile natural gas supply pipeline that interconnects the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal with several large interstate and intrastate pipelines (the“Creole Trail Pipeline”).
Additionally, we own and operate a natural gas liquefaction and export facility located near Corpus Christi, Texas (the“Corpus Christi LNG Terminal”) through CCL, which has natural gas liquefaction facilities with total expected production capacity of over 25 mtpa of LNG, of which over 8 mtpa is currently under construction. The Corpus Christi LNG Terminal also has three LNG storage tanks with aggregate capacity of approximately 10 Bcfe and two marine berths that can each accommodate vessels with nominal capacity of up to 266,000 cubic meters. As noted above, we are constructing an expansion of the Corpus Christi LNG Terminal that is expected to add over 10 mtpa of operational liquefaction capacity across seven midscale Trains once fully completed (the“Corpus Christi Stage 3 Project”), inclusive of the first midscale Train that reached substantial completion in March 2025. We also own and operate through CCP an approximately 21-mile natural gas supply pipeline that interconnects the Corpus Christi LNG Terminal with several large interstate and intrastate natural gas pipelines (the“Corpus Christi Pipeline” and together with the existing assets at the Corpus Christi LNG Terminal and the Corpus Christi Stage 3 Project, the“CCL Project”).
Our long-term counterparty arrangements form the foundation of our business and provide us with significant, stable, long-term cash flows, and include SPAs, in which our customers are generally required to pay a fixed fee with respect to the contracted volumes irrespective of their election to cancel or suspend deliveries of LNG cargoes, and IPM agreements, in which a gas producer sells natural gas to us on a global LNG or natural gas index price, less a fixed liquefaction fee, shipping and other costs. The SPAs also have a variable fee component, which is primarily indexed to Henry Hub and generally structured to cover the cost of natural gas purchases, transportation and liquefaction fuel consumed to produce LNG. Since we procure most of our feedstock for LNG production from the U.S., the structure of these contracts helps limit our exposure to fluctuations in U.S. natural gas prices. Through our SPAs and IPM agreements currently in effect, with approximately 15 years of weighted average remaining life as of March 31, 2025, we have contracted approximately 95% of the total anticipated production from the SPL Project and the CCL Project (collectively, the“Liquefaction Projects”) through the mid-2030s, excluding volumes from contracts with terms less than 10 years and volumes that are contractually subject to additional liquefaction capacity beyond what is currently in construction or operation. LNG produced by the Liquefaction Projects that is not contracted under long-term contracts is available for Cheniere Marketing, our integrated marketing function, to sell in the global market under spot sales or other short-term agreements.
Disciplined Accretive Growth
We remain focused on safety, operational excellence and customer satisfaction. Increasing demand for LNG has allowed us to expand our liquefaction infrastructure in a financially disciplined manner. Our capital allocation plan is designed, in part, to invest in financially disciplined growth accretive to our common stock. Capital investment parameters are the foundation of our disciplined, accretive growth, and include consideration to:
Achieve value accretive returns through long-term commercial contracts: We aim to contract approximately 80-90% of our current and planned liquefaction capacity under long-term SPAs and IPM agreements with creditworthy counterparties under the pricing structures described above, with targeted unlevered returns that exceed our cost of equity and return on stock at prevailing stock prices.
Our success in securing long-term commercial contracts at desired returns is influenced by global LNG and natural gas market conditions and other uncertainties described in the risk factors of ourannual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024.
Achieve credit accretive returns: We aim to conservatively fund our projects through financing structures that sustain our long-term, run-rate leverage and credit metrics.
Our ability to secure the required financing is influenced by market interest rates and other factors described in the risk factors of ourannual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024.
We have increased available liquefaction capacity at our Liquefaction Projects as a result of debottlenecking and other optimization projects. We believe these factors provide a foundation for additional growth in our portfolio of customer contracts in the future. We hold significant land positions at both the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal and the Corpus Christi LNG Terminal, which provide opportunity for further liquefaction capacity expansion. We are developing an expansion adjacent to the CCL Project consisting of two midscale Trains with an expected total production capacity of approximately 3 mtpa of LNG
(the“CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9 Project”). Additionally, we are developing an expansion adjacent to the SPL Project with a total production capacity of up to approximately 20 mtpa of LNG, inclusive of estimated debottlenecking opportunities (the“SPL Expansion Project”). We are commercializing to support the additional liquefaction capacity associated with these potential expansion projects. The development of these projects requires, among other things, regulatory approvals and acceptable commercial and financing arrangements before we make a positive FID. Risks associated with cost overruns and delays in the completion of our expansion projects, including the Corpus Christi Stage 3 Project, are described in the risk factors of ourannual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024.
The following table summarizes pre-FID development efforts and certain key milestones associated with the CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9 Project and the SPL Expansion Project:
| CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9 Project | SPL Expansion Project | ||
| Expected total production capacity of LNG (1) | ~ 3 mtpa | Up to ~ 20 mtpa | |
| Milestone | |||
| Regulatory (2) | FERC authorizations: | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Positive environmental assessment | ü | Pending | |
| Order under Section 3 of NGA | ü | Pending | |
| Certification to commence construction (3) | ü | ||
| DOE export authorization: | |||
| FTA countries | ü | ü | |
| Non-FTA countries | Pending | Pending | |
| Financing | Financing (4) | ||
| Commercialization and Other Contracting | Definitive commercial agreements (5) | In process | In process |
| Definitive full-scope EPC contract | |||
| Critical Milestone | Target FID (6) | 2025 | 2026/2027 |
üindicates receipt of authorization, subject to ongoing conditionality
(1)Anticipated based on capacity, scale, location and infrastructure. Subject to regulatory review and approval and may change based on design considerations, engagement with contractors, and other factors. Subject to adjustment for planned maintenance, production reliability, potential overdesign and debottlenecking opportunities.
(2)Our activities, including our expansion activities, are highly regulated, and require regulatory approvals at various stages, including approvals of the FERC and DOE under Sections 3 and 7 of the NGA, as well as several other material governmental and regulatory approvals and permits. The progression of our expansion projects is dependent on receiving all regulatory approvals required within the respective stages. Seeour annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 for further discussion of the regulations under federal, state and local statutes, rules, regulations and laws to which we are subject and associated risks factors relating to regulations.
(3)Based on letter from the FERC granting our request to commence with site preparation. The FERC orders require us to comply with certain ongoing conditions and obtain certain additional FERC and other regulatory agency approvals as construction progresses.
(4)We anticipate drawing on current committed facilities and/or incurring additional debt to finance the construction of the CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9 Project and the SPL Expansion Project, if we reach a positive FID.
(5)Liquefaction capacity partially contracted by Cheniere Marketing and SPL Stage V through SPA or IPM agreements conditioned on additional liquefaction capacity beyond what is currently in construction or operation. We believe we have secured sufficient commercial SPAs and/or IPM agreements to support the construction of the CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9 Project, subject to relevant conditions precedent, review of project economics, and assignment or novation of such agreements to the project entity.
(6)Potentially subject to phased FID. Any positive FID is subject to achievement of or consideration to relevant milestones and capital investment parameters described herein.
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