Cheniere Energy, the largest liquefied natural gas exporter in the U.S., has submitted an application to build a 24 million metric tons per annum LNG plant at its Corpus Christi location in Texas (U.S.), according to a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The proposed project will be an expansion of Cheniere's Corpus Christi plant, which at present has a capacity of 18 MMtpy but could soon produce as much as 25 MMtpy with the ongoing Stage 3 expansion expected to be completed by the end of 2026. If the Stage 4 project is approved, Corpus Christi capacity would eventually rise to 49 MMtpy.

The latest expansion would entail adding four new LNG processing plants, also called trains, that will each produce 6 MMtpy of LNG, according to the filing with FERC. Cheniere expects that the Stage 4 expansion will require 3.3 billion cubic feet of gas per day and it hopes to get federal approval by May next year for the project.

In 2025 the U.S. exported 111 MMt of LNG according to preliminary data from financial firm LSEG. The U.S. has another 100 MMtpy under construction to come online between 2027 and 2030.

With the more favorable permitting climate in the U.S., Cheniere has been in a race with Venture Global VG.N to be the first U.S. exporter to get to 100 MMtpy.

Cheniere has a present capacity of 52 MMtpy with another 8 MMtpy under construction. Venture Global has a capacity of 40 MMtpy with another 28 MMtpy under construction.