Cheniere Energy Inc., along with subsidiaries Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P. and Cheniere Energy Partners LP Holdings, LLC, announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Board member Neal A. Shear as interim President and Chief Executive Officer, and the Cheniere Board has appointed Board member G. Andrea Botta as Chairman of its Board of Directors, effective immediately. Mr. Shear has also been appointed the Chairman of the Boards of Cheniere Energy Partners GP, LLC, the general partner of Cheniere Energy Partners, L.P., and Cheniere Energy Partners LP Holdings, LLC. The appointments of Board's decision to replace Charif Souki, Cheniere's co-founder, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately The Governance and Nominating Committee of the Board will immediately begin a search for a permanent CEO.

Mr. Shear, together with a special committee of the Board of Directors, will work with Cheniere's executive team to facilitate an orderly leadership transition. In addition, Board member Nuno Brandolini will take over as head of Cheniere's Compensation Committee. Mr. Shear, a member of Cheniere's Board of Directors since 2014, is a 30-year industry veteran with experience managing global commodities activities and investments across a variety of asset classes.

He is a partner of Silverpeak Strategic Partners LP, a private investment company, and served as the Chief Executive Officer of Higgs Capital Management, a commodity-focused hedge fund, until 2014. Prior to Higgs Capital Management, Mr. Shear served as Global Head of Securities at UBS Investment Bank and was a Partner at Apollo Global Management.