Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Related Party Transactions (Tables)

v3.22.4
Related Party Transactions (Tables)
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2022
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Schedule of Related Party Transactions
Below is a summary of our related party transactions as reported on our Consolidated Statements of Income (in millions):
Year Ended December 31,
2022 2021 2020
LNG revenues—affiliate
Cheniere Marketing Agreements (1) $ 4,565  $ 1,453  $ 632 
Contracts for Sale and Purchase of Natural Gas and LNG (2) 19  30 
Total LNG revenues—affiliate 4,568  1,472  662 
LNG revenues—related party
Natural Gas Transportation and Storage Agreements (3) —  — 
Cost of sales—affiliate
Cheniere Marketing Agreements (1) —  34  61 
Contracts for Sale and Purchase of Natural Gas and LNG (2) 213  50  16 
Total cost of sales—affiliate 213  84  77 
Cost of sales—related party
Natural Gas Transportation and Storage Agreements (3) —  — 
Natural Gas Supply Agreements (1) —  16  — 
Total cost of sales—related party —  17  — 
Operating and maintenance expense—affiliate
Services Agreements (4) 166  142  152 
Operating and maintenance expense—related party
Natural Gas Transportation and Storage Agreements (3) 72  46  13 
General and administrative expense—affiliate
Services Agreements (4) 92  85  96 
Other income—affiliate
Cooperative Endeavor Agreement (5) — 
(1)SPL primarily sells LNG to Cheniere Marketing under SPAs and letter agreements at a price equal to 115% of Henry Hub plus a fixed fee, except for an SPA associated with an IPM agreement for which pricing is linked to international natural gas prices, which will commence in 2023. SPL also has a master SPA agreement with Cheniere Marketing that allows us to sell and purchase LNG with Cheniere Marketing by executing and delivering confirmations under this agreement. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, SPL had $551 million and $232 million of accounts receivable—affiliate, respectively, under these agreements with Cheniere Marketing. In addition, SPL has an arrangement with subsidiaries of Cheniere to provide the ability, in limited circumstances, to potentially fulfill commitments to LNG buyers in the event operational conditions impact operations at either the Sabine Pass or Corpus Christi liquefaction facilities. The purchase price for such cargoes would be the greater of: (a) 115% of the applicable natural gas feedstock purchase price or (b) an FOB U.S. Gulf Coast LNG market price.
(2)SPL has an agreement with Corpus Christi Liquefaction, LLC (“CCL”) that allows them to sell and purchase natural gas and LNG from each other. Natural gas purchased under these agreements is initially recorded as inventory and then to cost of sales—affiliate upon its sale, except for purchases related to commissioning activities which are capitalized as LNG terminal construction-in-process. Additionally, SPLNG is able to sell and purchase natural gas and LNG under agreements with Cheniere Marketing.
(3)SPL is party to various natural gas transportation and storage agreements and CTPL is party to an operational balancing agreement with a related party in the ordinary course of business for the operation of the Liquefaction Project. This related party is partially owned by Brookfield, who indirectly acquired a portion of our limited partner interests in September 2020 through its purchase of a portion of CQP Target Holdco’s equity interests. SPL recorded
accrued liabilities—related party of $6 million and $4 million as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, with this related party.
(4)We do not have employees and thus we and our subsidiaries have various services agreements with affiliates of Cheniere in the ordinary course of business, including services required to construct, operate and maintain the Liquefaction Project, and administrative services. Prior to the substantial completion of each Train of the Liquefaction Project, our payments under the services agreements were primarily based on a cost reimbursement structure, and following the completion of each Train, our payments include a fixed monthly fee (indexed for inflation) per mtpa in addition to the reimbursement of costs. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, we had $177 million and $141 million of advances to affiliates, respectively, under the services agreements. The non-reimbursement amounts incurred under these agreements are recorded in general and administrative expense—affiliate.
(5)SPLNG has executed Cooperative Endeavor Agreements (“CEAs”) with various Cameron Parish, Louisiana taxing authorities that allowed them to collect certain advanced payments of annual ad valorem taxes from SPLNG from 2007 through 2016. This initiative represented an aggregate commitment of $25 million over 10 years in order to aid in their reconstruction efforts following Hurricane Rita. In exchange for SPLNG’s advance payments of annual ad valorem taxes, Cameron Parish shall grant SPLNG a dollar-for-dollar credit against future ad valorem taxes to be levied against the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal as early as 2019. In 2018, SPLNG entered into a Memorandum of Understanding, which forgave approximately $7.5 million of the dollar-for-dollar credits, and in 2022, an agreement was reached to defer the commencement of the dollar-for-dollar credits until 2027. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, we had $17 million and $15 million of amounts associated with dollar-for-dollar credits due on advance tax payments to the taxing authorities recorded to other non-current assets on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. Beginning in September 2007, SPLNG entered into various agreements with Cheniere Marketing, pursuant to which Cheniere Marketing would pay SPLNG additional TUA revenues equal to any and all amounts payable by SPLNG to the Cameron Parish taxing authorities under the CEAs. In exchange for such amounts received as TUA revenues from Cheniere Marketing, SPLNG will make payments to Cheniere Marketing equal to the dollar-for-dollar credit applied to the ad valorem tax levied against the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal. We had $17 million and $15 million of other non-current liabilities—affiliate as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, from these payments received from Cheniere Marketing.