Cheniere gets Sabine Pass financing

Allen Baker

Cheniere Energy Inc., already in construction on one LNG terminal for the Gulf Coast, has announced $822 million in financing for its Sabine Pass terminal in far western Louisiana. Cheniere said Feb. 28 that a syndicate of 47 banks and other financial institutions had set up the credit facility, led by HSBC Securities and SG Corporate and Investment Banking, a subsidiary of Societe Generale.

Cheniere got approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the terminal Dec. 15, and signed a turnkey agreement with Bechtel Corp. later that month for engineering, procurement and construction. Work is expected to start this month, with operations to begin in early 2008.

Initial capacity will be 2.6 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas from liquefied natural gas shipped in on tankers. That is the largest capacity ever approved by the federal energy agency. Down the coast, Cheniere is a major partner in the Freeport LNG terminal in Texas, where construction started Jan. 17 on a facility with capacity to gasify 1.5 bcf a day. Cheniere has 30 percent of that facility, which is being financed by ConocoPhillips, also a major owner.