US LNG exports rebound in August on higher output from Freeport LNG
By Curtis Williams
HOUSTON, Sept 3 (Reuters) -Exports of U.S. liquefied natural gas bounced higher in August as output from the country's second-largest export facility rose following an outage and maintenance activities at other plants wound down, preliminary data from financial firm LSEG showed on Tuesday.
Exports of the superchilled gas rose to 7.48 million metric tons (MT) in August, up from the 6.69 MT in July, which marked the second-lowest monthly exports of the year, the LSEG data showed.
The U.S. last year was the world's largest LNG exporter.
In August, Freeport LNG at times operated above nameplate capacity as it began to benefit from its debottlenecking work to add output beyond the plant's 15.3 MTPA capacity following an outage in July.
The Texas company's operations were offline for a time last month after a shutdown ahead of Hurricane Beryl, which hit the Texas coast near Freeport as a Category 1 hurricane on July 8. The plant remained down for eight days and resumed operations on a phased basis.
U.S LNG producers continued to favor exports to Asia. A heat wave was driving Asian LNG prices while a well-supplied Europe was putting downward pressure on prices on the continent, Masanori Odaka, senior analyst at Rystad Energy, said last month.
In August, 3.19 MT, or just under 43%, was supplied to Asia, a similar percentage but a slightly higher volume compared to the 2.9 MT shipped in July, LSEG ship tracking data showed.
Europe remained the second-favored destination for U.S. exports, with 2.92 MT, or 39%, sold to the continent, surpassing the 36% supplied to the continent in July.
Egypt, which continues to face a hot summer, imported 0.7 MT from the U.S. and Jordan imported 0.08 MT of the superchilled gas in August, LSEG data showed.
Sales of LNG to Latin America were 1.08 MT, or just over 14%. The share was higher than the 11% sold to the region in July, LSEG data show.
There were two cargoes that were out for orders with a total volume of 0.14 MT, shiptracking data showed.
In August, Venture Global LNG's 20 MTPA Plaquemines LNG facility signaled it was close to startup with the importation of LNG to cool its facility.
When the Louisiana plant is fully operating, it will become the second-largest U.S. export facility and further cement the U.S. as the world's largest exporter of the superchilled gas.
Reporting by Curtis Williams in Houston; Editing by Paul Simao
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.