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Cheniere Energy said its Sabine Pass Liquefaction and Corpus Christi Liquefaction subsidiaries signed separate long-term sale and purchase agreements with QatarEnergy for a combined 4 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of liquefied natural gas. The contracts run through 2054. The company disclosed the arrangements on 22 October 2026.
Each agreement covers 2 mtpa from one of the two US Gulf Coast terminals. Cargoes are to be sold free on board, with the purchase price indexed to Henry Hub plus a fixed fee. The release did not disclose the fee, identify a destination restriction, or publish a total contract value.
Deliveries are expected to begin in the early 2030s and continue through the end of 2054. The full 4 mtpa headline volume is not unconditional: 1 mtpa under the Sabine Pass agreement is subject to a positive final investment decision for the first phase of Cheniere’s Sabine Pass Expansion Project. The other 1 mtpa in that agreement and the 2 mtpa from Corpus Christi are described as contracted volumes without that stated condition.
Cheniere says the first expansion phase is expected to include a seventh liquefaction train, a boil-off-gas reliquefaction unit and associated infrastructure. It puts the phase’s expected production capacity above 6 mtpa, including estimated debottlenecking opportunities. These are company project estimates, not a completed facility or operating output. The release says an engineering, procurement and construction contract was signed with Bechtel in May 2026 and that limited early engineering and procurement had been authorized.
The agreement links a Qatari buyer with US production capacity on a decades-long horizon. The stated Henry Hub formula identifies a US gas-market index plus a fixed fee; it does not by itself establish the delivered cost, shipping economics, or how QatarEnergy will use or resell each cargo. The companies did not specify the receiving market, vessel schedule, or annual delivery profile in the announcement. The conditional Sabine Pass volume also means expansion financing and investment approval remain relevant to part of the stated total.
The announcement therefore describes a future supply arrangement, not gas already flowing under these contracts. Its 4 mtpa figure is an annual contract volume, while the stated delivery window begins only in the early 2030s; the release does not provide a year-by-year ramp-up schedule. Nor does it publish minimum or maximum lifting tolerances, take-or-pay provisions, or a cargo-by-cargo calendar, so those commercial details cannot be inferred from the headline volume. The two-terminal split is explicit, but the announcement does not say whether QatarEnergy will direct cargoes to a particular country or market. FOB identifies the delivery basis at the loading terminal; it does not establish the buyer's eventual shipping route or final destination. Similarly, Henry Hub plus a fixed fee describes the pricing reference at a high level, while leaving the fee and other contract terms undisclosed. These limits matter when comparing the deal with announced liquefaction capacity: a purchase commitment, a project estimate, a final investment decision and actual production are distinct milestones. The conditional Sabine Pass portion is the clearest example: it remains tied to an investment decision, whereas the agreement announcement itself is complete.