Cheniere Energy reported third quarter results that quantify what the Gulf disruption is worth to the largest exporter of US liquefied natural gas. The company exported 188 cargoes in the three months ended September 30, up from 163 a year earlier, with total volumes up 17 percent to 684 trillion British thermal units. Revenue jumped 39 percent to 6.17 billion dollars, net income rose 12 percent to 1.17 billion dollars, and consolidated adjusted EBITDA rose 18 percent to 1.9 billion dollars.
The outlook moved more than the quarter. Cheniere raised full year 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance to between 8.75 billion and 9.25 billion dollars, from 7.9 billion to 8.4 billion previously, and lifted distributable cash flow guidance to between 6.05 billion and 6.55 billion dollars. It was the company’s third guidance raise this year, and management attributed it to improved margin capture, higher lifting margins on higher Henry Hub prices, and the early completion of the seventh and final train of the Corpus Christi Stage 3 expansion, which added more than 20 percent to production capacity in August.
The commercial wins underline the structural shift. Cheniere highlighted long term agreements signed in October to supply QatarEnergy with up to 4 million tonnes of LNG a year from the early 2030s through 2054, one million tonnes of it subject to a final investment decision on the first phase of the Sabine Pass expansion, and a separate 22 year agreement to supply Brazil’s Petrobras with 800,000 tonnes a year. The world’s largest LNG producer is contracting American cargoes that do not transit the Strait of Hormuz, the same logic behind the Woodside deal reported yesterday.
Cheniere said it exported its 5,000th cargo in August and had loaded about 5,120 cargoes totalling more than 350 million tonnes by October 23. It operates about 56 million tonnes a year of liquefaction capacity across Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi, with another 5 million tonnes under construction, and forecast 2027 production of about 56 million to 58 million tonnes. US natural gas in the site market tables eased 1.56 percent to 2.91 dollars per million British thermal units, while standing 10.08 percent higher on the week.