GLNG vs LNG: How Golar LNG and Cheniere Energy Compare (2026)

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: LNG is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. GLNG and LNG share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined GLNG and LNG exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Golar LNG converts old LNG carriers into floating liquefaction plants and charters them to gas producers who have stranded reserves and no onshore terminal. Two units are in service: FLNG Hilli Episeyo (~2.4 MTPA), which has been liquefying gas offshore Cameroon since 2018, and FLNG Gimi (~2.4 MTPA), which began a 20-year lease to BP at the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim field offshore Mauritania and Senegal in June 2025. A third and larger unit, MKII FLNG (~3.5 MTPA), is being converted for a 20-year charter to Southern Energy S.A. in Argentina with startup guided to the second half of 2028. The Hilli is separately contracted for 20 years to a Pan American Energy led consortium in the Gulf of San Matias offshore Rio Negro province, liquefying Vaca Muerta shale gas, with first exports targeted within 2027 and headline revenue of about ~$13.7 billion over the term. Golar also sold down its LNG shipping and downstream businesses in prior years to become a pure-play FLNG operator, and it employs roughly ~500 people.

Full GLNG guide

Cheniere Energy is a Houston-based energy infrastructure company that liquefies US natural gas and exports it as liquefied natural gas (LNG) from two Gulf Coast terminals: Sabine Pass in Louisiana and Corpus Christi in Texas. It is the largest LNG producer in the United States and one of the largest in the world. The core of the business is a tolling-style model: Cheniere signs long-term sale and purchase agreements (SPAs), typically 15 to 20 years, in which customers pay a fixed capacity or take-or-pay fee whether or not they lift the cargo, plus a variable charge tied to US gas benchmarks. Roughly 95 percent of total production capacity is sold under these long-term contracts, which insulates the bulk of cash flow from spot price swings; the remaining uncontracted volumes are marketed by Cheniere's own trading arm into the global market, where realized margin depends on the spread between US gas costs and international LNG prices.

Full LNG guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• GLNG drivers: Argentina turning into an LNG exporter; A backlog that is contracted, not forecast.
• LNG drivers: Long-term contracts anchor the cash flow base; Capacity expansions extend the growth runway.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Three assets carry the entire company, so a single mechanical failure, drydock overrun or force majeure event is a material earnings event rather than a rounding error. For LNG, the clearest risk is that not all volumes are contracted: the marketed and uncontracted portion of output earns a margin tied to the spread between US gas costs and international LNG prices, so a portion of earnings is genuinely cyclical and can compress when global gas prices fall.

Pick GLNG if you believe its drivers more; LNG if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the GLNG and LNG guides.

GLNG. The trailing multiple reflects a company whose largest contracted asset has not started operating, so current earnings understate the contracted run rate and the P/E overstates the price paid for it. First-quarter 2026 adjusted EBITDA of ~$105.6 million annualizes far below the roughly ~$400 million the MKII charter alone is guided to produce from the second half of 2028. Second-quarter 2026 results are due August 13, 2026, and the Hilli transition timeline is the line item worth reading first.

LNG. Cheniere's reported earnings can look noisy because mark-to-market accounting on the long-term gas and LNG derivatives it uses to hedge contracts flows through net income, so distributable cash flow is the metric management and many analysts emphasize for the underlying tolling business. After a record first quarter of 2026 (approximately $5.9 billion of revenue, about $2.3 billion of Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA, and roughly $1.7 billion of distributable cash flow), the company raised full-year 2026 guidance and lifted production guidance to 52 to 54 million tonnes. The relatively low headline dividend yield near 0.9 percent reflects a deliberate strategy of returning more capital through buybacks and rapid dividend growth rather than a high starting payout.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): GLNG shows revenue (ttm) ~$469 million, up about ~82% year over year, net income (ttm) ~$141 million, diluted eps (ttm) ~$1.28, market capitalization ~$5.1 billion at a share price near ~$50; LNG shows revenue (fy 2025, reported) ~$20.0 billion, net income (fy 2025) ~$5.3 billion, distributable cash flow (fy 2025) ~$5.3 billion, distributable cash flow (fy 2026 guidance) ~$4.75 to $5.25 billion.

GLNG and LNG are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined GLNG and LNG exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.