Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Revenues

v3.22.4
Revenues
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2022
Revenue from Contract with Customer [Abstract]  
Revenues REVENUES
The following table represents a disaggregation of revenue earned (in millions):
Year Ended December 31,
2022 2021 2020
Revenues from contracts with customers
LNG revenues (1) $ 32,132  $ 17,171  $ 8,954 
Regasification revenues 1,068  269  269 
     Other revenues 107  91  70 
Total revenues from contracts with customers 33,307  17,531  9,293 
Net derivative loss (2) (328) (1,776) (30)
Other (3) 449  109  95 
Total revenues $ 33,428  $ 15,864  $ 9,358 
(1)LNG revenues include revenues for LNG cargoes in which our customers exercised their contractual right to not take delivery but remained obligated to pay fixed fees irrespective of such election. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we recognized $969 million in LNG revenues associated with LNG cargoes for which customers notified us that they would not take delivery, of which $38 million would have been recognized during the year ended December 31, 2021 had the cargoes been lifted pursuant to the delivery schedules with the customers. We did not have revenues associated with LNG cargoes for which customers notified us that they would not take delivery during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021. Revenue is generally recognized upon receipt of irrevocable notice that a customer will not take delivery because our customers have no contractual right to take delivery of such LNG cargo in future periods and our performance obligations with respect to such LNG cargo have been satisfied.
(2)See Note 7—Derivative Instruments for additional information about our derivatives.
(3)Includes revenues from LNG vessel subcharters. See Note 12—Leases for additional information about our subleases.
LNG Revenues

We have entered into numerous SPAs with third party customers for the sale of LNG on a free on board (“FOB”) (delivered to the customer at either the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal or our Corpus Christi LNG Terminal) or delivered at terminal (“DAT”) (delivered to the customer at their LNG receiving terminal) basis. Our customers generally purchase LNG for a price consisting of a fixed fee per MMBtu of LNG (a portion of which is subject to annual adjustment for inflation) plus a variable fee per MMBtu of LNG generally equal to 115% of Henry Hub. The fixed fee component is the amount payable to us regardless of a cancellation or suspension of LNG cargo deliveries by the customers. The variable fee component is the amount generally payable to us only upon delivery of LNG plus all future adjustments to the fixed fee for inflation. The SPAs and contracted volumes to be made available under the SPAs are not tied to a specific Train; however, the term of each SPA generally commences upon the date of first commercial delivery of a specified Train.

We intend to primarily use LNG sourced from our Sabine Pass LNG Terminal or our Corpus Christi LNG Terminal to provide contracted volumes to our customers. However, we supplement this LNG with volumes procured from third parties. LNG revenues recognized from LNG that was procured from third parties was $760 million, $499 million and $414 million for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Revenues from the sale of LNG are recognized at a point in time when the LNG is delivered to the customer, either at the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal or our Corpus Christi LNG Terminal or at the customer’s LNG receiving terminal, based on the terms of the contract, which is the point legal title, physical possession and the risks and rewards of ownership transfer to the customer. Each individual molecule of LNG is viewed as a separate performance obligation. The stated contract price (including both fixed and variable fees) per MMBtu in each LNG sales arrangement is representative of the stand-alone selling price for LNG at the time the contract was negotiated. We have concluded that the variable fees meet the exception for allocating variable consideration to specific parts of the contract. As such, the variable consideration for these contracts is allocated to each distinct molecule of LNG and recognized when that distinct molecule of LNG is delivered to the customer. Because of the use of the exception, variable consideration related to the sale of LNG is also not included in the transaction price.
When we sell LNG on a DAT basis, we consider all transportation costs, including vessel chartering, loading/unloading and canal fees, as fulfillment costs and not as separate services provided to the customer within the arrangement, regardless of whether or not such activities occur prior to or after the customer obtains control of the LNG. We expense fulfillment costs as incurred unless otherwise dictated by GAAP.

Fees received pursuant to SPAs are recognized as LNG revenues only after substantial completion of the respective Train. Prior to substantial completion, sales generated during the commissioning phase are offset against the cost of construction for the respective Train, as the production and removal of LNG from storage is necessary to test the facility and bring the asset to the condition necessary for its intended use.

Sales of natural gas where, in the delivery of the natural gas to the end customer, we have concluded that we acted as a principal are presented within revenues in our Consolidated Statements of Operations, and where we have concluded that we acted as an agent are netted within cost of sales in our Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Regasification Revenues

The Sabine Pass LNG Terminal has operational regasification capacity of approximately 4 Bcf/d. Approximately 1 Bcf/d of the regasification capacity at the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal has been reserved under a long-term TUA with TotalEnergies Gas & Power North America, Inc. (“TotalEnergies”), under which they are required to pay fixed monthly fees to SPLNG, regardless of their use of the LNG terminal, aggregating approximately $125 million annually for 20 years that commenced in 2009, which is representative of fixed consideration in the contract. A portion of this fee is adjusted annually for inflation which is considered variable consideration. Prior to its cancellation effective December 31, 2022, SPLNG also had a TUA for 1 Bcf/d with Chevron, as further described below. Approximately 2 Bcf/d of regasification capacity of the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal has been reserved by SPL, for which the associated revenues are eliminated in consolidation.

Because SPLNG is continuously available to provide regasification service on a daily basis with the same pattern of transfer, we have concluded that SPLNG provides a single performance obligation to its customers on a continuous basis over time. We have determined that an output method of recognition based on elapsed time best reflects the benefits of this service to the customer and accordingly, LNG regasification capacity reservation fees are recognized as regasification revenues on a straight-line basis over the term of the respective TUAs.

In 2012, SPL entered into a partial TUA assignment agreement with TotalEnergies, whereby upon substantial completion of Train 5 of the SPL Project, SPL gained access to substantially all of TotalEnergies’ capacity and other services provided under TotalEnergies’ TUA with SPLNG. This agreement provides SPL with additional berthing and storage capacity at the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal that may be used to provide increased flexibility in managing LNG cargo loading and unloading activity and permit SPL to more flexibly manage its LNG storage capacity. Notwithstanding any arrangements between TotalEnergies and SPL, payments required to be made by TotalEnergies to SPLNG will continue to be made by TotalEnergies to SPLNG in accordance with its TUA and we continue to recognize the payments received from TotalEnergies as revenue. During the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, SPL recorded $131 million, $129 million and $129 million, respectively, as operating and maintenance expense under this partial TUA assignment agreement.

Termination Agreement with Chevron

In June 2022, Chevron entered into an agreement with SPLNG providing for the early termination of the TUA and an associated terminal marine services agreement between the parties and their affiliates (the “Termination Agreement”), effective July 2022, for a lump sum fee of $765 million (the “Termination Fee”). Obligations pursuant to the TUA and associated agreement, including Chevron’s obligation to pay SPLNG capacity payments totaling $125 million annually (adjusted for inflation) from 2023 through 2029, terminated on December 31, 2022, upon SPLNG’s receipt of the Termination Fee in December 2022. We allocated the $765 million Termination Fee to the terminated commitments, with $796 million in cash inflows allocable to the termination of the TUA, which was recognized ratably over the July 6, 2022 to December 31, 2022 period as regasification revenues on our Consolidated Statements of Operations, and an offsetting $31 million reported, upon receipt of the Termination Fee, as a loss on extinguishment of debt on our Consolidated Statements of Operations allocable to a premium paid to Chevron to terminate a revenue sharing arrangement with them that was accounted for as debt.
Contract Assets and Liabilities

The following table shows our contract assets, net of current expected credit losses, which are classified as other current assets and other non-current assets, net on our Consolidated Balance Sheets (in millions):
December 31,
2022 2021
Contract assets, net of current expected credit losses $ 186  $ 140 

Contract assets represent our right to consideration for transferring goods or services to the customer under the terms of a sales contract when the associated consideration is not yet due. Changes in contract assets during the year ended December 31, 2022 were primarily attributable to revenue recognized due to the delivery of LNG under certain SPAs for which the associated consideration was not yet due.

The following table reflects the changes in our contract liabilities, which we classify as deferred revenue and other non-current liabilities on our Consolidated Balance Sheets (in millions):
Year Ended December 31, 2022
Deferred revenue, beginning of period $ 194 
Cash received but not yet recognized in revenue 320 
Revenue recognized from prior period deferral (194)
Deferred revenue, end of period $ 320 

We record deferred revenue when we receive consideration, or such consideration is unconditionally due from a customer, prior to transferring goods or services to the customer under the terms of a sales contract. Changes in deferred revenue during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 are primarily attributable to differences between the timing of revenue recognition and the receipt of advance payments related to delivery of LNG under certain SPAs.

Transaction Price Allocated to Future Performance Obligations

Because many of our sales contracts have long-term durations, we are contractually entitled to significant future consideration which we have not yet recognized as revenue. The following table discloses the aggregate amount of the transaction price that is allocated to performance obligations that have not yet been satisfied:
December 31, 2022 December 31, 2021
Unsatisfied Transaction Price (in billions) Weighted Average Recognition Timing (years) (1) Unsatisfied Transaction Price (in billions) Weighted Average Recognition Timing (years) (1)
LNG revenues $ 112.0  9 $ 107.1  9
Regasification revenues 0.8  4 1.9  4
Total revenues $ 112.8  $ 109.0 
(1)The weighted average recognition timing represents an estimate of the number of years during which we shall have recognized half of the unsatisfied transaction price.

We have elected the following exemptions which omit certain potential future sources of revenue from the table above:
(1)We omit from the table above all performance obligations that are part of a contract that has an original expected duration of one year or less.
(2)The table above excludes substantially all variable consideration under our SPAs and TUAs. We omit from the table above all variable consideration that is allocated entirely to a wholly unsatisfied performance obligation or to a wholly unsatisfied promise to transfer a distinct good or service that forms part of a single performance obligation when that performance obligation qualifies as a series. The amount of revenue from variable fees that is not included in the transaction price will vary based on the future prices of Henry Hub throughout the contract terms, to the extent customers elect to take delivery of their LNG, and adjustments to the consumer price index. Certain of our contracts contain additional variable consideration based on the outcome of contingent events and the movement of various indexes. We have not included such variable consideration in the transaction price to the extent the consideration is considered constrained due to the uncertainty of ultimate pricing and receipt.
Additionally, we have excluded variable consideration related to contracts where there is uncertainty that one or both of the parties will achieve certain milestones. Approximately 72% and 60% of our LNG revenues from contracts included in the table above during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, were related to variable consideration received from customers. During the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, approximately 2% and 5%, respectively, of our regasification revenues were related to variable consideration received from customers.

We may enter into contracts to sell LNG that are conditioned upon one or both of the parties achieving certain milestones such as reaching FID on a certain liquefaction Train, obtaining financing or achieving substantial completion of a Train and any related facilities. These contracts are considered completed contracts for revenue recognition purposes and are included in the transaction price above when the conditions are considered probable of being met.