Cheniere Energy Inc. received permission from federal regulators to start commercial operations on the second natural gas liquefaction train of its Corpus Christi LNG export terminal in Texas.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized Cheniere to begin the commercial export activities from the train on Aug. 28, one day after Cheniere's Corpus Christi Liquefaction LLC submitted commissioning documents to the agency that it said demonstrated the train was ready to be placed into service. Cheniere had asked FERC to approve the request no later than Aug. 31.
The development continued a major ramp-up for Cheniere, which this year has already brought commercially online two new gas liquefaction units at its export terminals in Louisiana and Texas. The in-service approval was also a significant milestone in the ongoing buildout of U.S. LNG infrastructure that could see the country's export capacity rise above 7 Bcf/d by early 2020.
The second train at Corpus Christi LNG began shipping commissioning cargoes in mid-2019. It is one of seven liquefaction units in operation between Cheniere's Corpus Christi LNG and Sabine Pass LNG terminals. Each of the trains has the capacity to produce 4.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG, or about 0.7 Bcf/d of gas.
Cheniere, which is the biggest U.S. LNG exporter, has reported that construction is more than 60% complete on a third train at the Corpus Christi terminal. Cheniere is also working to commercialize a planned expansion at Corpus Christi that involves the construction of up to seven midscale liquefaction trains that the company hopes to commercially sanction in 2020.
The company announced a final investment decision in June on a sixth train at the Sabine Pass terminal.
The U.S. is expected to have six LNG terminals exporting cargoes to world markets by the end of 2019. The operators of the two remaining facilities that make up this wave of major U.S. LNG facilities are both preparing to ship their first cargoes soon. Those terminals, Kinder Morgan Inc.'s Elba Island LNG in Georgia and the Freeport LNG Development LP facility in Texas, are already producing LNG.

