U.S. LNG natgas feedgas on track to fall to 12-week low, LSEG figures show
July 17 (Reuters) -The amount of natural gas flowing to U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants was on track to drop to a 12-week low on Wednesday due to reductions at several plants, including Freeport LNG in Texas, according to data from financial firm LSEG.
For years, LNG feedgas has been the fastest growing source of new U.S. gas demand and the shutdown of any export plant, especially Freeport, can sway gas prices around the world.
On Monday, U.S. gas futures NGc1 fell about 7% to a 10-week low after it became clear that Freeport would not return to full service as soon as the market had previously expected.
In 2023, the U.S. exported about 11% of the gas drillers pulled out of the ground as LNG, up from just 1% in 2016, the year Cheniere Energy LNG.N started operating the first big LNG export plant at Sabine Pass in Louisiana.
Gas flows to the seven big U.S. LNG export plants fell to 11.6 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in July due mostly to the shutdown of Freeport for Hurricane Beryl on July 7, down from 12.8 bcfd in June and a monthly record high of 14.7 bcfd in December 2023, according to LSEG data.
On a daily basis, LNG feedgas was on track to drop to a 12-week low of 10.7 bcfd on Wednesday due to the ongoing reduction at Freeport and a new reduction over the past couple of days at Cheniere's Corpus Christi plant in Texas.
Officials at Cheniere were not immediately available for comment on Corpus.
The 2.1-bcfd Freeport was on track to pull in about 0.5 bcfd of gas on Wednesday, up from 0.4 bcfd on Tuesday and near zero bcfd from July 7-15. In the week before Freeport shut for Hurricane Beryl, the plant was pulling in about 1.7 bcfd of feedgas.
The 2.4-bcfd Corpus, meanwhile, was on track to pull in about 1.6 bcfd of gas on Wednesday, the same as Tuesday. That is down from an average of 2.4 bcfd during the prior seven days (July 9-15), according to LSEG data.
One billion cubic feet is enough gas to supply about five million U.S. homes for a day.
Reporting by Scott DiSavino
Editing by Tomasz Janowski
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.
