LNG tanker docks at Cheniere’s Corpus Christi plant as 1st shipment nears

A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker has arrived at Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi liquefaction and export terminal in Texas as the company is preparing to ship the first cargo from the facility.

The 170,000-cbm FSRU Golar Tundra, which is being used as an LNG carrier in the spot market, arrived at the Corpus Christi plant’s jetty on Sunday.

The vessel did not bring a cargo of the chilled fuel to Cheniere’s facility, AIS data provided by VesselsValue shows.

There have been recently several reports saying that an event to mark the commissioning of the Corpus Christi facility would take place at the Port of Corpus Christi on November 15.

Cheniere already owns and operates the Sabine Pass LNG export facility in Louisiana, one of only two facilities currently exporting US shale gas-sourced LNG.

The Corpus Christi facility is the company’s second LNG export facility and the third such facility in the US.

Corpus Christi is a three-train liquefaction project, with each train expected to have a nominal production capacity of about 4.5 million tonnes per year of LNG.

The liquefaction project is the first large-scale LNG export project to be built in Texas, with a cost of approximately $15 billion.

Cheniere introduced feed gas to the first Corpus Christi liquefaction unit in August and expects substantial completion of the train to be achieved during the first quarter of 2019.

Cheniere’s Michael Wortley said last week during a conference call discussing the company’s quarterly results that the Corpus Christy plant “hasn’t made LNG but is very close to doing it.”

“Corpus Train 2 continues to progress on an accelerated schedule and we expect substantial completion in the second half of next year,” Cheniere’s CEO Jack Fusco said during the mentioned conference call.

Cheniere made a positive final investment decision for the third liquefaction unit at its Corpus Christi facility in May this year. Substantial completion of this unit is expected in the second quarter of 2021.

LNG World News Staff