Cheniere Signs 15-Year LNG Sales Agreement with Trafigura

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer Cheniere Energy Incorporated (NYSE:LNG) (Houston, Texas) has signed a sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Singapore-based commodities trader Trafigura Private Limited. Trafigura has agreed to purchase 1 million tonnes per year of LNG from Cheniere for 15 years. Prices will be linked to the monthly Henry Hub, plus a fee. Industrial Info is tracking more than $35 billion in active Cheniere projects.

Cheniere Chief Executive Officer Jack Fusco said, "We are pleased to announce this long-term SPA with Trafigura, an important player in the global LNG market. We expect this SPA to help support Cheniere's expansion plans, and we look forward to a successful long-term relationship with Trafigura as a customer."

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Among the planned expansion projects is construction of a third LNG train at the company's facility in Corpus Christi, Texas, and a sixth train at its Sabine Pass liquefaction facility in Louisiana. Construction is underway on trains 1 and 2 at Corpus Christi. Construction on both trains began in the first half of 2015. Train 1 is expected to be completed later this year, followed by Train 2 in the first quarter of 2019. Each train will have a production capacity of 4.5 million tons per year. Bechtel Group Incorporated (San Francisco, California) is performing engineering, procurement and construction on the projects. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on Train 1 and Train 2.

Construction of a third train at the facility could begin this summer, taking about three years to complete. The train has received permit approvals from the Department of Energy and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The train also would have a production capacity of 4.5 million tons per year, using ConocoPhillips' (NYSE:COP) (Houston) Optimized Cascade Liquefaction Technology. Already, a memorandum of understanding for partial offtake from the train has been signed with China National Petroleum Corporation (Beijing, China). Bechtel will provide EPC work. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Cheniere's Sabine Pass facility became the U.S.' first LNG-exporting plant when it began production in early 2016. The fourth train at the facility was completed in the fourth quarter of last year. Construction of Train 5 began in summer 2015 and is expected to be completed in early 2020, bringing the facility's total production capacity to 22.5 million tons per year. Construction of a sixth and final train could begin later this year, taking about four years to complete. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports on Train 5 and Train 6.

The Sabine Pass facility will not be the only LNG-export facility in the U.S. for long, however. In late December, Dominion Energy Incorporated (NYSE:D) (Richmond, Virginia) received its first natural gas for liquefaction at its Cove Point LNG facility in Lusby, Maryland. Construction on the project began in late 2014, and the facility is now ready to kick off production for export. Kiewit Corporation (Omaha, Nebraska) performed EPC work on the project, which had an estimated total investment value of $4 billion. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Industrial Info is tracking hundreds of billions of dollars of active U.S. LNG projects, mostly concentrated in the Gulf Coast region. While not all of these projects will make it to construction, several will, helping cement the U.S.' position as a net gas exporter. In addition to Cheniere's additional trains, one of the major projects planned to kick off is Lake Charles LNG Export LCC's (Lake Charles, Louisiana) planned liquefaction and export plant in Lake Charles. Construction on the 5.5 million-ton-per-year facility could begin later this year, taking about three years to complete. WorleyParsons Limited (North Sydney, Australia) is consultant on the project, which has an estimated TIV of $3 billion. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

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