With Cheniere’s Corpus Christi Liquefaction plant up and running, Texas and the Coastal Bend are ready to enter the worldwide natural gas market.
“It makes Texas a true world player, as we begin shipping Texas natural gas across the entire world,” said Gov. Greg Abbott.
Starting from scratch on an empty piece of land, Cheniere’s facility is the first greenfield LNG plant in the continental United States. When fully operational, three liquefaction units will turn natural gas into liquid, making the finished product easier for Cheniere to ship. The first liquefactor recently went on-line, the second is expected to do the same in the second half of 2019. Construction on the third liquefactor started last summer.
The company worked with the Bechtel Corporation for more than a decade to make the plant a reality. Officials say working together they were able to get the plant operational ahead of schedule.
“Everyone on the project, Cheniere, Bechtel, sub-contractors, the community, our suppliers; everyone is pulling for whatever is best for the project,” said Brendan Bechtel, Bechtel CEO.
Over the next 20 years, Cheniere plans to ship more than six million tons of liquid natural gas around the world from right here in the Coastal Bend.
“That’s over $50 billion of energy that Cheniere is committing to deliver, starting today, all the way through the next 20 years,” said Jack Fusco, Cheniere CEO.
When fully operational, LNG facility will create more than 430 permanent jobs, and expand economic activity in the United States by up to $26 billion over the next nine years.
Cheniere’s CEO expects that first ship to be loaded and sent to an international buyer “soon”.
