Cheniere Completes Final Train of Corpus Christi Stage 3, Making It U.S. No. 2 LNG Export Terminal

Cheniere Energy has completed the seventh and final liquefaction train in the Stage 3 expansion of its Corpus Christi LNG terminal in Texas, a milestone that the U.S. Energy Information Administration said lifts the facility to 3.1 billion cubic feet per day of nominal liquefaction capacity and makes it the second-largest LNG export terminal in the United States.

Cheniere said it took “care, custody and control” of the final midscale train on Aug. 28, marking substantial completion of the Corpus Christi Liquefaction Stage 3 Project. The expansion matters because it significantly increases both U.S. LNG export infrastructure and Cheniere’s own production footprint along the Gulf Coast.

In a Sept. 15 Today in Energy brief, the EIA said the Corpus Christi terminal now has 3.1 Bcf/d of nominal liquefaction capacity and 3.9 Bcf/d of peak capacity. That puts it behind only Cheniere’s Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana, which remains the country’s largest LNG export facility at 3.6 Bcf/d nominal capacity and 4.6 Bcf/d peak capacity.

Stage 3 added seven midscale liquefaction trains with a combined capacity of about 1.3 Bcf/d nominal and 1.5 Bcf/d peak, according to the EIA and Cheniere. The project came online in phases rather than all at once: the Stage 3 trains began producing LNG in December 2024, and the first cargo from the expansion was reported in early 2025. The final train’s turnover in late August marked the completion of a buildout that had already been partially operating for months.

Cheniere said Bechtel Energy turned over the last train to the company. With Stage 3 now substantially complete, Cheniere said its total LNG production capacity across Corpus Christi and Sabine Pass has increased by more than 20% to about 56 million tonnes per annum.

“With the substantial completion of CCL Stage 3, Cheniere and Bechtel have again delivered a major LNG project safely, on budget and ahead of schedule, solidifying our track record of excellence in project execution,” Jack Fusco, Cheniere’s chairman, president and chief executive, said in the company’s release.

The capacity milestone is separate from a federal export authorization issued earlier this year. On Feb. 26, the U.S. Department of Energy approved an expansion allowing Corpus Christi to export up to 4.45 Bcf/d. That figure is an administrative export ceiling set by the federal government, not a measure of the terminal’s physical liquefaction capacity. The EIA’s ranking of Corpus Christi as the nation’s second-largest LNG export facility is based on plant capacity, not the DOE authorization.

The Corpus Christi complex may grow further. The EIA said Midscale Trains 8 and 9 are under construction and are expected to add about 0.4 Bcf/d of nominal capacity, or 0.5 Bcf/d peak, when they enter service in 2028.