Cheniere Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Results and Introduces Full Year 2025 Financial Guidance

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cheniere Energy, Inc. (“Cheniere”) (NYSE: LNG) today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2024.

YEAR END 2024 SUMMARY FINANCIAL RESULTS

2025 FULL YEAR FINANCIAL GUIDANCE

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS

• During the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2024, Cheniere generated revenues of approximately $4.4 billion and $15.7 billion, net income1 of approximately $1.0 billion and $3.3 billion, Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA2 of approximately $1.6 billion and $6.2 billion, and Distributable Cash Flow2 of approximately $1.1 billion and $3.7 billion, respectively.
• Introducing full year 2025 Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA2 guidance of $6.5 billion - $7.0 billion and full year 2025 Distributable Cash Flow2 guidance of $4.1 billion - $4.6 billion, with over 90% of forecasted operational volumes expected to be sold in relation to long-term agreements.
• Pursuant to Cheniere’s comprehensive capital allocation plan, Cheniere deployed approximately $5.4 billion towards accretive growth, balance sheet management and shareholder returns in 2024. During the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2024, Cheniere repurchased an aggregate of approximately 1.5 million and 13.8 million shares of common stock for approximately $281 million and $2.3 billion, respectively, repaid $350 million and $800 million of consolidated long-term indebtedness, respectively, and paid quarterly dividends of $0.500 and $1.805 per share of common stock, respectively, totaling approximately $112 million and $412 million, respectively.
• In January 2025, Cheniere declared a dividend with respect to the fourth quarter 2024 of $0.500 per share of common stock, which is payable on February 21, 2025.
• In December 2024, Cheniere announced that liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) was produced for the first time from the first train of the CCL Stage 3 Project (defined below) with substantial completion expected to be achieved by the end of the first quarter of 2025. In February 2025, the first cargo of LNG was produced from the CCL Stage 3 Project.
• In November 2024, Cheniere announced the publication of an updated life cycle assessment (LCA) study for greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions intensities of its LNG. The peer-reviewed study includes a novel gas-pathing algorithm that further improves the modeling of GHG emissions across Cheniere’s supply chain, utilizing actual operational data and leveraging Cheniere’s Quantification, Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (QMRV) program.

CEO COMMENT

“The outstanding financial and operational results achieved in 2024 are a testament to the dedication to safety, operational excellence and execution across our business demonstrated by each and every Cheniere employee,” said Jack Fusco, Cheniere’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We exported a record 646 cargoes of LNG in 2024, while once again delivering top quintile safety performance. Record production, coupled with strategic portfolio optimization, enabled us to achieve financial results at or above the high end of our guidance ranges, while the commissioning and startup of Corpus Christi Stage 3 positions us to further serve the global market with our reliable, affordable and cleaner-burning LNG.”

“Today we introduce our financial guidance ranges for 2025, which are largely informed by our production forecast and the expected completion of the first three trains at Stage 3 this year. We expect 2025 to be another record year for LNG production as Stage 3 trains are completed, and we look forward to delivering financial results within these ranges and further enhancing the long-term value proposition of Cheniere.”

SUMMARY AND REVIEW OF FINANCIAL RESULTS

Net income1 decreased approximately $400 million and $6.6 billion for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2024, respectively, as compared to the corresponding 2023 periods. The decreases were primarily attributable to approximately $599 million and $6.7 billion of unfavorable variances related to changes in fair value of our derivative instruments (before tax and non-controlling interests) (further described below) for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2024, respectively, as compared to the corresponding 2023 periods. The decreases were partially offset by lower provisions for income tax, as well as lower net income attributable to non-controlling interests during both periods.

Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA decreased approximately $73 million and $2.6 billion for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2024, respectively, as compared to the corresponding 2023 periods. The decreases were primarily due to the moderation of international gas prices, resulting in lower total margins per MMBtu of LNG delivered, as well as a higher proportion of our LNG being sold under long-term contracts during both 2024 periods as compared to the corresponding 2023 periods.

A portion of the derivative gains (losses) relate to the use of commodity derivative instruments indexed to international gas and LNG prices, primarily related to our long-term Integrated Production Marketing (“IPM”) agreements. Our IPM agreements are designed to provide stable margins on purchases of natural gas and sales of LNG over the life of the agreements and have a fixed fee component, similar to that of LNG sold under our long-term, fixed fee LNG sale and purchase agreements. However, the long-term duration and international price basis of our IPM agreements make them particularly susceptible to fluctuations in fair market value from period to period. In addition, accounting requirements prescribe recognition of these long-term gas supply agreements at fair value each reporting period on a mark-to-market basis, but do not currently permit mark-to-market recognition of the corresponding sale of LNG, resulting in a mismatch of accounting recognition for the purchase of natural gas and sale of LNG. As a result of continued moderation of international gas price volatility and changes in international forward commodity curves during the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2024, we recognized $91 million and $1.4 billion, respectively, of non-cash favorable changes in fair value attributable to such positions (before tax and non-controlling interests), compared to $1.3 billion and $7.1 billion of non-cash favorable changes in fair value in the corresponding 2023 periods, respectively.

Share-based compensation expenses included in net income totaled $76 million and $215 million for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2024, respectively, compared to $122 million and $250 million for the corresponding 2023 periods, respectively.

Our financial results are reported on a consolidated basis. Our ownership interest in Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. (“Cheniere Partners”) (NYSE: CQP) as of December 31, 2024 consisted of 100% ownership of the general partner and a 48.6% limited partner interest.

BALANCE SHEET MANAGEMENT

Capital Resources

The table below provides a summary of our available liquidity (in millions) as of December 31, 2024:

Recent Key Financial Transactions and Updates

During the three months ended December 31, 2024, SPL repaid $350 million in principal amount of its 5.625% Senior Secured Notes due 2025 with cash on hand.

LIQUEFACTION PROJECTS OVERVIEW

SPL Project

Through Cheniere Partners, we operate six natural gas liquefaction Trains for a total production capacity of approximately 30 million tonnes per annum (“mtpa”) of LNG at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana (the “SPL Project”).

SPL Expansion Project

Through Cheniere Partners, we are developing an expansion adjacent to the SPL Project with an expected total production capacity of up to approximately 20 mtpa of LNG (the “SPL Expansion Project”), inclusive of estimated debottlenecking opportunities. In February 2024, certain subsidiaries of Cheniere Partners submitted an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) for authorization to site, construct and operate the SPL Expansion Project, as well as an application to the Department of Energy (“DOE”) requesting authorization to export LNG to Free-Trade Agreement (“FTA”) and non-FTA countries, both of which applications exclude debottlenecking. In October 2024, we received authorization from the DOE to export LNG to FTA countries.

CCL Project

We operate three natural gas liquefaction Trains for a total production capacity of approximately 15 mtpa of LNG at the Corpus Christi LNG terminal near Corpus Christi, Texas (the “CCL Project”).

CCL Stage 3 Project

We are constructing an expansion adjacent to the CCL Project consisting of seven midscale Trains with an expected total production capacity of over 10 mtpa of LNG (the “CCL Stage 3 Project”). First LNG production from the first train of the CCL Stage 3 Project was achieved in December 2024, and the first cargo of LNG was produced in February 2025.

CCL Stage 3 Project Progress as of December 31, 2024:

CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9 Project

We are developing two additional midscale Trains with an expected total production capacity of approximately 3 mtpa of LNG (the “CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9 Project”) adjacent to the CCL Stage 3 Project. In March 2023, certain of our subsidiaries filed an application with the FERC for authorization to site, construct and operate the CCL Midscale Trains 8 & 9 Project, and in April 2023, filed an application with the DOE requesting authorization to export LNG to FTA and non-FTA countries. In July 2023, we received authorization from the DOE to export LNG to FTA countries. In June 2024, we received a positive Environmental Assessment from the FERC and anticipate receiving all remaining necessary regulatory approvals for the project in 2025.

INVESTOR CONFERENCE CALL AND WEBCAST

We will host a conference call to discuss our financial and operating results for the fourth quarter and full year 2024 on Thursday, February 20, 2025, at 11 a.m. Eastern time / 10 a.m. Central time. A listen-only webcast of the call and an accompanying slide presentation may be accessed through our website at www.cheniere.com. Following the call, an archived recording will be made available on our website.

1 Net income as used herein refers to Net income attributable to Cheniere Energy, Inc. on our Consolidated Statements of Operations.
2 Non-GAAP financial measure. See “Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures” for further details.

About Cheniere

Cheniere Energy, Inc. is the leading producer and exporter of LNG in the United States, reliably providing a clean, secure, and affordable solution to the growing global need for natural gas. Cheniere is a full-service LNG provider, with capabilities that include gas procurement and transportation, liquefaction, vessel chartering, and LNG delivery. Cheniere has one of the largest liquefaction platforms in the world, consisting of the Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi liquefaction facilities on the U.S. Gulf Coast, with total production capacity of approximately 45 mtpa of LNG in operation and an additional 10+ mtpa of expected production capacity under construction. Cheniere is also pursuing liquefaction expansion opportunities and other projects along the LNG value chain. Cheniere is headquartered in Houston, Texas, and has additional offices in London, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C.

For additional information, please refer to the Cheniere website at www.cheniere.com and Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to disclosing financial results in accordance with U.S. GAAP, the accompanying news release contains non-GAAP financial measures. Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA and Distributable Cash Flow are non-GAAP financial measures that we use to facilitate comparisons of operating performance across periods. These non-GAAP measures should be viewed as a supplement to and not a substitute for our U.S. GAAP measures of performance and the financial results calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP and reconciliations from these results should be carefully evaluated.

Non-GAAP measures have limitations as an analytical tool and should not be considered in isolation or in lieu of an analysis of our results as reported under GAAP and should be evaluated only on a supplementary basis.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain statements that may include “forward-looking statements” within the meanings of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements, other than statements of historical or present facts or conditions, included herein are “forward-looking statements.” Included among “forward-looking statements” are, among other things, (i) statements regarding Cheniere’s financial and operational guidance, business strategy, plans and objectives, including the development, construction and operation of liquefaction facilities, (ii) statements regarding regulatory authorization and approval expectations, (iii) statements expressing beliefs and expectations regarding the development of Cheniere’s LNG terminal and pipeline businesses, including liquefaction facilities, (iv) statements regarding the business operations and prospects of third-parties, (v) statements regarding potential financing arrangements, (vi) statements regarding future discussions and entry into contracts, (vii) statements relating to Cheniere’s capital deployment, including intent, ability, extent, and timing of capital expenditures, debt repayment, dividends, share repurchases and execution on the capital allocation plan, and (viii) statements relating to our goals, commitments and strategies in relation to environmental matters. Although Cheniere believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, they do involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties, and these expectations may prove to be incorrect. Cheniere’s actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including those discussed in Cheniere’s periodic reports that are filed with and available from the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Other than as required under the securities laws, Cheniere does not assume a duty to update these forward-looking statements.