Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation |
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| Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nature of Operations and Basis of Presentation | NATURE OF OPERATIONS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION
We own a natural gas liquefaction and export facility located in Cameron Parish, Louisiana at Sabine Pass (the “Sabine Pass LNG Terminal”), which has natural gas liquefaction facilities with total production capacity of over 30 mtpa of LNG (the “Liquefaction Project”) as of June 30, 2026. The Sabine Pass LNG Terminal also has five LNG storage tanks, vaporizers and three marine berths. We also own and operate a 94-mile natural gas supply pipeline that interconnects the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal with several large interstate and intrastate pipelines (the “Creole Trail Pipeline”).
We are developing a two-phased expansion project adjacent to the Liquefaction Project to provide additional liquefaction capacity, inclusive of three liquefaction trains and supporting infrastructure, with an expected total peak production capacity of up to approximately 20 mtpa of LNG, inclusive of estimated debottlenecking opportunities (the “SPL Expansion Project”), and we are commercializing to support the additional liquefaction capacity associated with this potential expansion project. In May 2026, SPL Stage V entered into a lump sum, turnkey EPC contract with Bechtel Energy, Inc. for the first phase of the SPL Expansion Project and issued a limited notice to proceed to commence early engineering and procurement. The development of this project or other projects, including infrastructure projects in support of natural gas supply and LNG demand, will require, among other things, acceptable commercial and financing arrangements before the Board of Directors of our general partner makes a positive FID.
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. See Note 10—Related Party Transactions for additional details of the activity under these services agreements during the three months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025.
As of June 30, 2026, Cheniere owned 48.6% of our limited partner interest in the form of 239.9 million of our common units. Cheniere also owns 100% of our general partner interest and our incentive distribution rights (“IDRs”).
Basis of Presentation
The accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements of CQP have been prepared in accordance with GAAP for interim financial information and in accordance with Rule 10-01 of Regulation S-X and reflect all normal recurring adjustments, which are, in the opinion of management, necessary for a fair statement of the financial results for the interim periods presented. Accordingly, these Consolidated Financial Statements do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying notes included in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025.
Results of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2026 are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations that will be realized for the year ending December 31, 2026.
We are not subject to either federal or state income tax, as our partners are taxed individually on their allocable share of our taxable income.
Accounting for Derivative Instruments
In June 2026, we designated the NPNS scope exception under Accounting Standards Codification Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging, for our IPM agreements. This exception is available for contracts that are expected to be physically settled and used or sold in the normal course of business, which is consistent with our intended purpose to consume the delivered physical natural gas to produce LNG. Our designation considered increased observable U.S. Gulf Coast third-party physical natural gas market activity involving contracts indexed to global LNG or natural gas prices, among other factors, in evaluating whether the pricing mechanism is consistent with the economics of the underlying physical market. As a result of this designation, these agreements are no longer accounted for as derivative instruments that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis. Instead, the agreements are accounted for on a delivery basis upon physical receipt of the natural gas. The estimated fair values of these agreements as of the designation date were established as the new cost basis and are being amortized into cost of sales on a systematic basis over the remaining expected terms of the agreements. Because recognition is based on the timing and volume of contract deliveries, the amounts recognized in any reporting period are expected to vary and are not expected to follow a linear pattern. These non-cash amounts reflect the amortization of deferred gains and losses established at the designation date rather than changes in current-period market prices. If it is determined that the contracts designated as NPNS no longer meet the
scope exception, the contracts would be recorded at fair value and any gains and losses would be immediately recognized in earnings.
As a result of the designation, the carrying amounts of the NPNS-designated agreements were reclassified on our Consolidated Balance Sheets from other current assets, derivative assets, current derivative liabilities and derivative liabilities as follows (in millions):
The following table presents management’s current estimated net gains from the amortization of the remaining balance of the deferred NPNS assets and liabilities as of the designation date (in millions), which is based on estimated recognition periods of contractual delivery schedules as of the balance sheet date and may change if contract volumes, delivery timing, or contract modifications differ from current expectations:
(1)For the six months ended June 30, 2026, we recorded a gain from amortization of $5 million.
Prior to the designation date, we recognized $551 million and $(126) million of derivative gains (losses) during the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, respectively, and derivative gains of $39 million and $188 million for the same periods of 2025, respectively, for the designated agreements.
Recent Accounting Standards
ASU 2024-03
In November 2024, the FASB issued ASU No. 2024-03, Income Statement – Reporting Comprehensive Income – Expense Disaggregation Disclosures (Subtopic 220-40): Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses, as clarified by ASU No. 2025-01 in January 2025. This guidance requires disaggregated disclosures about certain income statement expense line items on an annual and interim basis. We continue to evaluate the impact of the provisions of this guidance on our disclosures, but plan to adopt this guidance prospectively and conform with the disclosure requirements when it becomes mandatorily effective for our annual report for the year ending December 31, 2027.
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