Cheniere Energy Partners said that it will go ahead with plans to build a sixth natural gas liquefaction train at the Sabine Pass liquefaction project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. It also issued full notice to proceed with construction to Bechtel Oil, Gas and Chemicals.

To fund construction of Train 6, a third LNG berth, and required supporting infrastructure, Cheniere entered into five-year, $1.5 billion senior secured credit facilities with 29 banks and financial institutions in a deal that closed on May 29.

Cheniere Partners also raised its run-rate production guidance to 4.8 to 4.9 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) per train, up from 4.5 to 4.9 mtpa per train. The increase in run-rate production is based on the impact of production optimization, maintenance optimization and debottlenecking projects.

In a related development, Cheniere Corpus Christi Liquefaction Stage III entered into a long-term gas supply agreement with Apache Corp. Under terms of the 15-year deal, Apache will sell 140,000 MMBtu per day of natural gas from the Permian Basin to Corpus Christi Stage III. The LNG associated with this gas supply, roughly 0.85 mtpa, will be marketed by Cheniere.

The Corpus Christi Stage III project is being developed to include up to seven midscale liquefaction trains with a total expected nominal production capacity of around 9.5 mtpa. Corpus Christi Stage III received a positive environmental assessment from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in March 2019 and could receive all remaining necessary regulatory approvals for the project by the end of 2019.