LNG Plant CAPEX: $140 → $2,500 → $610/tpa

Oct 1

2 min read

23 July 2026

Low-cost pioneers → Scale-up → CAPEX inflation → A new optimisation phase

Over six decades, LNG plant CAPEX has traced an inverted U-curve.

$140/tpa (1964) — small, simple first-generation LNG plants.
$2,500/tpa (2016) — Australian megaprojects set the CAPEX record.
$610/tpa (2026/27) — North Field East sets today's lowest publicly comparable benchmark for world-scale LNG plants.

CAPEX evolution

🔹 1964–1983 | Low-cost pioneers

Smaller trains, mature locations and simple designs kept CAPEX low.

🔹 1983–2009 | Scale-up

Larger trains, standardisation and shared infrastructure increased capacity without proportional CAPEX growth.

🔹 2010–2018 | Australian CAPEX inflation

Remote locations, labour shortages and upstream integration drove record CAPEX.

🔹 2019–2027 | A new optimisation phase

Standardisation, modularisation and repeatable train designs are delivering lower unit CAPEX in leading new LNG developments.

CAPEX milestones

1964 — Camel LNG (Algeria) — 1.0 MTPA — $140/tpa
1969 — Kenai LNG (USA) — 1.5 MTPA — $180/tpa
1977–1999 — Bontang LNG (Indonesia) — 22.5 MTPA — $380/tpa
1983 — MLNG Satu (Malaysia) — 8.1 MTPA — $450/tpa
1997–2005 — Qatargas 1 (Qatar) — ~10 MTPA — $900/tpa
2009 — Qatargas 2 (Qatar) — 15.6 MTPA — $1,070/tpa
2016 — Gorgon LNG (Australia) — 15.6 MTPA — $2,500/tpa
2017–2018 — Wheatstone LNG (Australia) — 8.9 MTPA — $2,050/tpa
2026–2027 — North Field East (Qatar) — 32 MTPA — $610/tpa

Update

Following a detailed discussion in the comments below, we've been working through an indicative liquefaction-only CAPEX estimate for a recent US Gulf Coast project (Venture Global's CP2).

Preliminary numbers suggest ~$935–1,400/tpa — higher than the $610/tpa North Field East figure above, but still below the Australian-era peak of $2,500/tpa.

The overall optimisation trend still holds.

Still being refined — you're welcome to add your own comments or data below.

Methodology

Comparable LNG plant CAPEX (2026 USD) divided by annual nameplate liquefaction capacity.
Bontang, MLNG Satu and Qatargas 1 use final nameplate capacity. Values are indicative where expansion CAPEX cannot be separated reliably.
Excludes upstream, pipelines, marine facilities, shipping, financing and owner's costs where public disclosures allow.
Only projects with sufficiently comparable public liquefaction-only CAPEX data are included. LNG Canada and several other projects are excluded because comparable public data are unavailable.
Industry feedback, additional public sources and corrections are welcome. If you know of reliable liquefaction-only CAPEX data, I'd be delighted to update the dataset and chart.

Sources

Oxford Institute for Energy Studies — LNG Plant Cost Escalation; LNG Plant Cost Reduction 2014–18
QatarEnergy — North Field East and Qatargas project disclosures
Chevron — Gorgon and Wheatstone project disclosures
PETRONAS — Malaysia LNG disclosures
Badak LNG — Bontang project history
GIIGNL and IEA — Global LNG capacity and industry statistics