Cheniere’s first LNG shipment from Sabine Pass is destined for Brazil
Cheniere Energy (ticker: LNG, Cheniere.com) announced that it was loading the first shipment of LNG to export from the U.S. from Train 1 at its Sabine Pass LNG project Wednesday. A press release from the company said the cargo would “depart imminently,” following its loading on the LNG carrier Asia Vision.
Asia Vision’s cargo will be about 3 Bcf (approximately 60,960 tons) of natural gas destined to go to Petrobras in Brazil, Cheniere Executive Vice President of Marketing Meg Gentle told Reuters on the sideline of an energy conference in Houston.
“We’ll be loading vessels over the next couple months,” Gentle said, noting the company has six LNG vessels under charter, including the Clean Ocean, Oak Spirit and Creole Spirit in addition to the Asia Vision. The Energy Atlantic, another of Cheniere’s chartered ships, has been waiting in the Gulf of Mexico since January to load U.S. shale gas converted into LNG by Cheniere’s Sabine Pass facility.
The cost of chartering the LNG tankers is about $45,000 per day, according to Gentle.
The first cargo from Train 1 is a test cargo, according to the EVP. “It’s under Bechtel’s control, they drive the schedule,” she said, referring to the construction firm in charge of building Sabine Pass.
Gentle went on to say Cheniere expects natural gas prices to remain below $3 per MMBtu for the “foreseeable future.” Despite that, Cheniere expects to be cash flow positive in late 2018 or 2019.
Liquefaction trains 2 to 5 are currently under construction, each with an expected capacity of 0.65 Bcf/d. The trains currently under construction are expected to enter service between 2016 and 2019.
