US LNG feedgas dips ahead of Hurricane Francine on reductions at Louisiana plants
Adds feedgas flows and background
Sept 11 (Reuters) -The amount of natural gas flowing to U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants was on track to slideto a two-week low on Wednesday as energy firms reducedfeedgas to plants in Louisiana before Hurricane Francine crashes into the state's coast, according to data from financial firm LSEG.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) projected Francine will slam into the Louisiana coast with maximum sustained winds of around 100 miles per hour (161 kilometers per hour) later on Wednesday. Louisiana is home to three of the nation's seven big operating LNG export plants.
Gas flows to the nation's LNG export plants were on track to decline from 12.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) on Tuesday to a two-week low of 11.7 bcfd on Wednesday, LSEG data showed. Total feedgas averaged about 13.4 bcfd over the prior week.
Most of that reduction was due to a drop in flows to the 2.0-bcfd Cameron LNG export plant in Louisiana from 1.9 bcfd on Tuesday to 0.9 bcfd on Wednesday. Feedgas to Cameron averaged 2.1 bcfd over the prior week.
One billion cubic feet of gas is enough to supply about five million homes for a day.
Officials at Cameron LNG were not immediately available for comment on the reason for the reduction. Energy traders noted Francine was forecast to make landfall near Cameron.
Cameron LNG's partners include units of U.S. energy company Sempra Energy SRE.N, Japanese corporate groups Mitsui & Co 8031.T and Mitsubishi 8058.T, France's TotalEnergies TTEF.PA and Japanese shipping line Nippon Yusen KK (NYK Line) 9101.T, according to the Cameron website.
OTHER LNG PLANTS
The two other big LNG plants operating in Louisiana are Cheniere Energy's LNG.N 4.5-bcfd Sabine Pass and Venture Global LNG's 1.6-bcfd Calcasieu Pass.
Calcasieu was on track to pull in about 1.2 bcfd of feedgas on Wednesday, down from 1.4 bcfd on Tuesday, while Sabine was on track to pull in about 4.6 bcfd on Wednesday, up from 4.5 bcfd on Tuesday, according to LSEG data.
LNG plants pull in more gas than they can turn into LNG because they use some of that gas to fuel equipment.
Officials at Cheniere and Venture Global were not immediately available for comment. Earlier in the week, Cheniere said LNG production remained uninterrupted at Sabine as the company continued with storm preparation.
In Texas, meanwhile, Freeport LNG's 2.1-bcfd export plant was on track to pull in about 1.9 bcfd of gas on Wednesday, up from 1.8 bcfd on Tuesday. Feedgas to Freeport averaged 2.0 bcfd over the past week.
Freeport has shut during storms in the past due to power outages or other storm-related damage. Francine, however, was still too far from land to cause power outages or other damage.
Freeport is more sensitive to power outages than other U.S. LNG plants because it uses electric motors instead of gas turbines to drive liquefaction compressors.
Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Nick Zieminski
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