S&C client Cheniere Energy, Inc. (Cheniere) announced that its Board of Directors has made a positive Final Investment Decision (FID) with respect to Train 3 at Cheniere’s Corpus Christi liquefaction project (CCL Project) and plans to issue a full notice to proceed to Bechtel Oil, Gas and Chemicals, Inc. to continue construction, which began in late 2017 under limited notice to proceed. This represents the first FID on new liquefaction capacity in the United States since 2015.
Cheniere’s wholly owned subsidiary, Cheniere Corpus Christi Holdings, LLC, closed on its amended credit facilities on May 22, 2018, and total commitments under the credit facilities have been increased to $6.1 billion. The amended credit facilities will be used to fund a portion of the costs of developing, constructing, and placing into service Trains 1, 2, and 3, and the associated pipeline and other infrastructure at or near the CCL Project, and for related business purposes. The remaining costs of the CCL Project are expected to be funded by Cheniere under its amended Equity Contribution Agreement with Corpus Christi Holdings, and from cash flows generated by Trains 1 and 2 of the CCL Project after they are placed into service.
The CCL Project is a three-train liquefaction project under construction near Corpus Christi, Texas. Each train is expected to have a nominal production capacity of approximately 4.5 mtpa of LNG. S&C also advised Cheniere on its landmark $11.5 billion project financing for Trains 1 and 2 at the CCL Project—the largest single project financing ever in the United States, which was named “Americas Deal of the Year” by Project Finance International and “North America LNG Deal of the Year” by IJGlobal in 2015.
Cheniere, a Houston-based energy company primarily engaged in LNG-related businesses, also owns and operates the Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana. In 2016, Cheniere was the first U.S. liquefied natural gas exporter to ship an LNG cargo from the lower 48 states, from its Sabine Pass terminal.
The S&C team was led by Inosi Nyatta, along with John Estes, Steven Mungovan, Daniel Biller, Ekaterina Roze, Hannah Waldman and Ximeng Tang.