Cheniere Train 6 First LNG at Corpus Christi

Cheniere Energy said Train 6 at its Corpus Christi Stage 3 liquefaction project in San Patricio County, Texas began producing first liquefied natural gas, marking the sixth of seven midscale trains to hit the milestone since the expansion's first cargo loaded in February 2025. Substantial completion is still expected this summer, the Houston operator said in a statement dated May 19.

The Stage 3 build-out, a chain of seven midscale trains rated at a combined 1.3 billion cubic feet per day of nominal capacity and 1.5 Bcf/d peak, is on track for full completion by year-end 2026 with Train 7 the only remaining unit. Each midscale train adds roughly 1.43 million tonnes per annum of LNG, equivalent to about 0.19 Bcf/d of incremental feedgas demand on a steady-state basis. With six trains now in or near commercial service, Cheniere's run-rate liquefaction capacity sits north of 54 mtpa across its Corpus Christi and Sabine Pass complexes, the largest LNG export footprint in the United States.

Q1 cargoes hit 188 as Fusco raises 2026 EBITDA guidance to $7.75 billion top end

The Train 6 milestone arrives on the back of a record first quarter in which Cheniere exported 188 LNG cargoes, up 11 percent year over year, on volumes of 688 trillion British thermal units, up 13 percent. Adjusted EBITDA reached $2.33 billion, a 25 percent year-over-year gain, on consolidated revenues of $5.87 billion. President and CEO Jack Fusco said 2026 was "off to an excellent start" when the company raised full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance to a range of $7.25 billion to $7.75 billion, $500 million higher at the midpoint than the prior range of $6.75 billion to $7.25 billion. Distributable cash flow guidance moved to $4.75 billion to $5.25 billion.

On a per-cargo basis, the Q1 result implies average revenue of roughly $31.2 million per cargo at current arbitrage spreads, a sharper margin than the same period of 2025 when global LNG benchmarks were depressed by mild winter weather. Cheniere returned $537 million to shareholders through buybacks in the quarter and paid out $117 million in dividends, while retiring $253 million of long-term debt.

US LNG feedgas eases from April record as Golden Pass and Freeport go into maintenance

Aggregate US feedgas pipeline deliveries to LNG terminals averaged a record 18.8 Bcf/d in April before slipping to about 17.0 Bcf/d so far in May, according to Reuters pipeline-flow data, as Golden Pass LNG and Freeport LNG took units offline for seasonal maintenance. Henry Hub front-month futures traded near $3.02 per million Btu on the CME by late morning Eastern Time, up 0.6 percent on the day, while the front-month Dutch TTF benchmark, the European import marker, held near €48.755 per megawatt-hour, equivalent to roughly $15.40 per MMBtu and leaving a US-to-Europe arbitrage spread of more than $12 per MMBtu before shipping costs.

Brent crude futures traded around $103 per barrel intraday on ICE while WTI ranged between $98.52 and $99.96 per barrel on CME, with US-Iran shipping negotiations and the Strait of Hormuz blockade continuing to dictate near-term direction. The LNG-to-crude price ratio remains historically wide, supporting the structural margin case for incremental US Gulf Coast supply.

Stage 4 in regulatory review, midscale Trains 8 and 9 already sanctioned

Beyond Stage 3, Cheniere has a positive final investment decision in hand on the Corpus Christi Midscale Trains 8 and 9 project, and has begun regulatory work on a Stage 4 expansion at the Texas site that would add further capacity into the early 2030s. Cheniere's regulatory pipeline now totals more than 40 mtpa of additional liquefaction, on top of the roughly 53 mtpa of operating capacity and 8 mtpa under construction, positioning the company to defend its US LNG-export crown even as ConocoPhillips and Glenfarne advance Alaska LNG Phase One and Venture Global pushes its CP2 expansion in Louisiana.

The US Energy Information Administration projects total US LNG export capacity will climb to about 16.4 Bcf/d on a nominal basis once the seven Stage 3 trains and Plaquemines Phase 2 reach full service, widening the country's lead over Australia and Qatar as the world's top LNG exporter.