Cheniere adds charters, NYK-Ocean Yield JV pick up LNG carrier options

Cheniere and Ocean Yield financials

Announcement of the added newbuilds came the day after both Ocean Yield and Cheniere released their respective full-year financial results.

In its results, Ocean Yield pointed to its healthy backlog of US$4.5Bn in contracts and full employment of its fleet on long-term charters. The added charters will push Ocean Yield’s owned fleet past 70 vessels, with LNG and gas carriers gaining ground within the fleet.

"Including the four LNG vessels on charter to Cheniere announced in December, the fleet now counts 70 vessels with an average age of 4.2 years. The EBITDA backlog was US$4.5Bn at the end of the year, and 100% of the fleet remains on long-term charters. Our continued investments into the LNG space significantly increase diversification of the backlog, with LNG and gas carriers now making up 39% of the backlog," Ocean Yield said.

For its part, Cheniere, the US’s largest LNG exporter, detailed a year that was marked by record production and announced the signing of a major, long-term LNG sale and purchase agreement with Taiwan’s state-owned oil and gas company CPC Corporation, in the amount of 1.2Mtpa for 25 years, through 2050.

On the whole, in 2025, Cheniere exported 670 LNG cargoes. The company exported its first cargo in February 2016 and, in the 10 years since, has exported more than 4,600 cargoes.

With its combined operational capacity between its Sabine Pass LNG Terminal in Louisiana and its Corpus Christi LNG terminal in Texas at 50Mtpa and growing, Cheniere detailed its continued expansion plans for both facilities and noted that its fifth train at the Corpus Christi plant had produced first gas.

On its more than 15Mtpa capacity Corpus Christi plant, Cheniere said its Stage 3 Project will expand the plant to seven midscale trains with an expected total production capacity of 10Mtpa. 

"Substantial completion was achieved for Trains 1-4 of the CCL Stage 3 Project in March, August, October and December 2025, respectively, and Trains 5-7 are scheduled to reach substantial completion by the end of 2026," Cheniere said.

For its Sabine Pass facilities, Cheniere said an expansion project there, pending regulatory approvals and a financial investment decision, was targeting 20Mtpa of added capacity.

"We expect to execute the SPL Expansion Project in a phased approach, and a positive FID is subject to, among other things, receipt of necessary regulatory approvals and acceptable commercial and financing arrangements. The FERC application for authorisation to site, construct and operate the SPL Expansion Project, as well as the DOE application authorising the export of LNG to non-FTA countries, remain pending," the company said.

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