Bechtel is designing and building three liquefied natural gas trains and related facilities near Corpus Christi for a subsidiary of Cheniere Energy, Inc. This is the first greenfield LNG export facility in the United States in nearly 50 years.
The dramatic rise in U.S. production of natural gas and the surging energy demand worldwide make this project and others like it especially important to sustaining and enhancing economic development for nations around the world.
Looking forward to 2019 …
...we expect to build upon our reputation of superior execution by placing Corpus Christi Trains 1 and 2 and Sabine Pass Train 5 into service safely, ahead of schedule, and within budget, and continue to leverage our world-scale infrastructure position to commercialize and grow our LNG platform. To that end, we have finalized the Sabine Pass Train 6 EPC contract with Bechtel, and we are releasing Bechtel to commence early engineering, procurement, and construction activities.
Jack Fusco, Cheniere’s President and Chief Executive Officer
What is LNG?
LNG is natural gas that's been compressed by refrigeration to a temperature of minus 258 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 161 degrees Celsius). The liquid occupies 600 times less space than natural gas in its gaseous state, making it practical to ship by ocean tanker. And it's stable and safe, because even though compressed in volume, the liquid remains at normal atmospheric pressure.
The Corpus Christi Liquefaction project includes
- a design production capacity of some 4.5 million metric tons per year of LNG from each train
- three LNG storage tanks with capacity of more than 10 billion cubic feet equivalent
- two berths that can accommodate vessels with capacity of up to 267,000 cubic meters
Inside the project
Construction of the complex is taking place over two stages:
- Stage 1 includes two LNG trains, two tanks, one complete berth, and a second partial berth. Train 1 celebrated its first production of LNG from the facility on November 15, 2018 and Train 2 reached substantial completion in August, 2019.
- Stage 2 covers one LNG train, one additional tank, and completion of the second berth. Stage 2 received full notice to proceed in June 2018.
Bechtel is designing, constructing, and commissioning the LNG trains using the ConocoPhillips Optimized Cascade® process, a proven technology deployed in numerous LNG projects around the world. The process uses three refrigeration phases involving propane, ethylene, and methane to progressively cool the natural gas.
Bechtel first used the ConocoPhillips Optimized Cascade® LNG process in a liquefaction plant it built for Phillips Petroleum on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. The facility has continuously produced LNG for the Japanese market since 1969.