Organization and Nature of Operations |
12 Months Ended |
|---|---|
Dec. 31, 2017 | |
| Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract] | |
| Organization and Nature of Operations |
ORGANIZATION AND NATURE OF OPERATIONS
Cheniere, a Delaware corporation, is a Houston-based energy company primarily engaged in LNG-related businesses. We own and operate the Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana through our ownership interest in and management agreements with Cheniere Partners, which is a publicly traded limited partnership that we created in 2007. We own 100% of the general partner interest in Cheniere Partners and 82.7% of Cheniere Holdings, which is a publicly traded limited liability company formed in 2013 that owns a 48.6% limited partner interest in Cheniere Partners. We are currently developing and constructing two natural gas liquefaction and export facilities.
The Sabine Pass LNG terminal is located in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, on the Sabine-Neches Waterway less than four miles from the Gulf Coast. Cheniere Partners is developing, constructing and operating natural gas liquefaction facilities (the “SPL Project”) at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal adjacent to the existing regasification facilities (described below) through a wholly owned subsidiary, SPL. Cheniere Partners plans to construct up to six Trains, which are in various stages of development, construction and operations. Trains 1 through 4 are operational, Train 5 is under construction and Train 6 is being commercialized and has all necessary regulatory approvals in place. Each Train is expected to have a nominal production capacity, which is prior to adjusting for planned maintenance, production reliability and potential overdesign, of approximately 4.5 mtpa and an adjusted nominal production capacity of approximately 4.3 to 4.6 mtpa of LNG. The Sabine Pass LNG terminal has operational regasification facilities owned by Cheniere Partners’ wholly owned subsidiary, SPLNG, that include pre-existing infrastructure of five LNG storage tanks with aggregate capacity of approximately 16.9 Bcfe, two marine berths that can each accommodate vessels with nominal capacity of up to 266,000 cubic meters and vaporizers with regasification capacity of approximately 4.0 Bcf/d. Cheniere Partners also owns a 94-mile pipeline that interconnects the Sabine Pass LNG terminal with a number of large interstate pipelines (the “Creole Trail Pipeline”) through a wholly owned subsidiary, CTPL.
We are developing and constructing a second natural gas liquefaction and export facility at the Corpus Christi LNG terminal, which is on nearly 2,000 acres of land that we own or control near Corpus Christi, Texas, and a pipeline facility (collectively, the “CCL Project”) through wholly owned subsidiaries CCL and CCP, respectively. The CCL Project is being developed for up to three Trains, with expected aggregate nominal production capacity, which is prior to adjusting for planned maintenance, production reliability and potential overdesign, of approximately 13.5 mtpa of LNG, three LNG storage tanks with aggregate capacity of approximately 10.1 Bcfe and two marine berths that can each accommodate vessels with nominal capacity of up to 266,000 cubic meters. The CCL Project is being developed in stages. The first stage includes Trains 1 and 2, two LNG storage tanks, one complete marine berth and a second partial berth and all of the CCL Project’s necessary infrastructure facilities (“Stage 1”). The second stage includes Train 3, one LNG storage tank and the completion of the second partial berth (“Stage 2”). The CCL Project also includes a 23-mile natural gas supply pipeline that will interconnect the Corpus Christi LNG terminal with several interstate and intrastate natural gas pipelines (the “Corpus Christi Pipeline”), which is being constructed concurrently with the first stage. Trains 1 and 2 are currently under construction, and Train 3 is being commercialized and has all necessary regulatory approvals in place. The construction of the Corpus Christi Pipeline is nearing completion.
Additionally, we are developing an expansion of the Corpus Christi LNG terminal adjacent to the CCL Project and recently amended our regulatory filings with FERC to incorporate a project design change, from two Trains with an expected aggregate nominal production capacity of approximately 9.0 mtpa to up to seven midscale Trains with an expected aggregate nominal production capacity of approximately 9.5 mtpa. We remain focused on leveraging infrastructure through the expansion of our existing sites. We are also in various stages of developing other projects, including infrastructure projects in support of natural gas supply and LNG demand, which, among other things, will require acceptable commercial and financing arrangements before we make a final investment decision (“FID”).
|