Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation

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Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2022
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation NATURE OF OPERATIONS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION
We operate two natural gas liquefaction and export facilities located in Cameron Parish, Louisiana at Sabine Pass and near Corpus Christi, Texas (respectively, the “Sabine Pass LNG Terminal” and “Corpus Christi LNG Terminal”).

CQP owns the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal which has natural gas liquefaction facilities consisting of six operational Trains, with Train 6 achieving substantial completion on February 4, 2022, for a total production capacity of approximately 30 mtpa of LNG (the “SPL Project”). The Sabine Pass LNG Terminal also has operational regasification facilities that include five LNG storage tanks, vaporizers and two marine berths, with an additional marine berth that is under construction. CQP 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 its subsidiary, CTPL. As of June 30, 2022, we owned 100% of the general partner interest and a 48.6% limited partner interest in CQP.

The Corpus Christi LNG Terminal currently has three operational Trains for a total production capacity of approximately 15 mtpa of LNG, three LNG storage tanks and two marine berths. Additionally, we are constructing an expansion of the Corpus Christi LNG Terminal (the “Corpus Christi Stage 3 Project”) for up to seven midscale Trains with an expected total production capacity of over 10 mtpa of LNG. CCL Stage III, CCL and CCP received approval from FERC in November 2019 to site, construct and operate the Corpus Christi Stage 3 Project. In March 2022, CCL Stage III issued limited notice to proceed to Bechtel Energy Inc. (“Bechtel”) to commence early engineering, procurement and site works. In June 2022, our board of directors (our “Board”) made a positive FID with respect to the investment in the construction and operation of the Corpus Christi Stage 3 Project and issued a full notice to proceed with construction to Bechtel effective June 16, 2022. In connection with the positive FID, CCL Stage III, through which we were developing and constructing the Corpus Christi Stage 3 Project, was contributed to CCH and subsequently merged with and into CCL, the surviving entity of the merger and a wholly owned subsidiary of CCH. Through our subsidiary CCP, we also own a 21.5-mile natural gas supply pipeline that interconnects the Corpus Christi LNG Terminal with several interstate and intrastate natural gas pipelines (the “Corpus Christi Pipeline” and together with the existing operational Trains, midscale trains, storage tanks and marine berths, the “CCL Project”).

We have increased available liquefaction capacity at the SPL Project and the CCL Project (collectively, the “Liquefaction Projects”) as a result of debottlenecking and other optimization projects. 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. The development of these sites or other projects, including infrastructure projects in support of natural gas supply and LNG demand, will require, among other things, acceptable commercial and financing arrangements before we make a positive FID.
Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements of Cheniere have been prepared in accordance with GAAP for interim financial information and in accordance with Rule 10-01 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes included in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021.

Results of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022 are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations that will be realized for the year ending December 31, 2022.

Recent Accounting Standards

ASU 2020-06

In August 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-06, Debt—Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging—Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity. This guidance simplifies the accounting for convertible instruments primarily by eliminating the existing cash conversion and beneficial conversion models within Subtopic 470-20, which will result in fewer embedded conversion options being accounted for separately from the debt host. The guidance also amends and simplifies the calculation of earnings per share relating to convertible instruments. This guidance is effective for annual periods beginning
after December 15, 2021, including interim periods within that reporting period, with earlier adoption permitted for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, including interim periods within that reporting period, using either a full or modified retrospective approach. We adopted this guidance on January 1, 2022 using the modified retrospective approach. The adoption of ASU 2020-06 primarily resulted in the reclassification of the previously bifurcated equity component associated with the 4.25% Convertible Senior Notes due 2045 (the “2045 Cheniere Convertible Senior Notes”) to debt as a result of the elimination of the cash conversion model. As of January 1, 2022, the reclassification resulted in: (1) a $194 million reduction of the equity component recorded in additional paid-in capital, before offsetting tax effect of $41 million, (2) a $189 million increase in the carrying value of our 2045 Cheniere Convertible Senior Notes and (3) a $5 million decrease in accumulated deficit, before offsetting tax effect of $1 million. In December 2021, we issued a notice of redemption for all $625 million aggregate principal amount outstanding of our 2045 Cheniere Convertible Senior Notes, which were redeemed on January 5, 2022. See Note 9—Debt for further discussion of the 2045 Cheniere Convertible Senior Notes.

The adoption of ASU 2020-06 also impacted the calculation of the dilutive effect of our 2045 Cheniere Convertible Senior Notes on our net loss per share for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022, as further discussed in Note 14—Net Income (Loss) per Share Attributable to Common Stockholders.

ASU 2020-04

In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-04, Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848): Facilitation of the Effects of Reference Rate Reform on Financial Reporting. This guidance primarily provides temporary optional expedients which simplify the accounting for contract modifications to existing contracts expected to arise from the market transition from LIBOR to alternative reference rates. The transition period under this standard is effective March 12, 2020 and will apply through December 31, 2022.

We have interest rate swaps and various credit facilities indexed to LIBOR, as further described in Note 6—Derivative Instruments and Note 9—Debt, respectively. To date, we have amended certain of our credit facilities to incorporate a replacement rate or a fallback replacement rate indexed to SOFR as a result of the expected LIBOR transition. We elected to apply the optional expedients as applicable to certain modified facilities, however the impact of applying the optional expedients was not material, and we do not expect the transition to SOFR or other replacement rate indexes to have a material impact on our future cash flows. We will continue to elect to apply the optional expedients to qualifying contract modifications in the future.