Cheniere's First Corpus Christi Train Approved for Commissioning

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Ferc) approved on July 5 Cheniere Energy’s earlier request to introduce fuel gas and commission Train 1 at its Corpus Christi Liquefaction project in Texas.

Cheniere made its original request to Ferc for commissioning authorisation on June 7, hoping to have the approval in hand by June 29 in order to remain on schedule. It filed a second request on June 29 along with compliance statements for four conditions attached to Ferc’s December 30, 2014 order approving construction of the Corpus Christi terminal.

Corpus Christi includes five trains with a nominal production capacity of up to 22.5mn metric tons/year (mt/yr) of LNG. Train 1 is ready for commissioning, Train 2 is expected to follow soon, while Cheniere took a positive final investment decision on Train 3, also 4.5mn mt/yr, on May 22.

Cheniere is currently considering an option to construct seven mid-scale liquefaction trains as stage three of the project, instead of the original plan for two additional 4.5mn mt/yr trains. Overall capacity of the terminal would remain at about 22.5mn mt/yr.