Texas tanker bottleneck grows on slow Freeport LNG restart after Beryl
Adds number of tankers, details in paragraphs 7-8, gas supply to LNG plants in paragraph 14
By Marianna Parraga and Curtis Williams
HOUSTON, July 18 (Reuters) -The number of liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers waiting to load at Freeport LNG in Texas has increased since the U.S. second largest exporter of the supercooled gas halted processing ahead of Hurricane Beryl's landfall last week, according to shipping data on Thursday.
Beryl made landfall on July 8 near Matagorda, on the Texas coast, lashing the state with 80-mph (130-kph) winds that caused infrastructure damages and left more than 2 million customers without electricity for days.
Ports and energy companies in many coastal cities, including Freeport, suffered wind damage and slow restoration of power.
Freeport LNG, which shut its three liquefaction trains on July 7 and reported wind damage after, has had a slow operational restart since.
The LNG exporter said on Monday it planned to restart one processing train this week and the remaining two trains shortly after, but production would be reduced while it continued repairs.
U.S. gas futures NGc1 had dropped about 7% on Monday to a 10-week low after it became clear to the market that Freeport LNG would likely continue to operate at less than full capacity for several more days.
On Thursday, feedgas to the facility was risingwith it expected to use 500 million cubic feet, up from 400 mmcf on Wednesday, according to LSEG data. The gas utilization increase is seen as an indicator of LNG production starting in the first train, which can use up to 700 mmcf per day.
However, vessel loading has not resumed. A total of six empty LNG tankers were anchored near the port, compared with a couple ships before the storm, with some of them accumulating more than 10 days of wait. Last loaded vessels before Beryl's landfall departed Freeport on July 5, according to LSEG.
As of Thursday, Freeport LNG had not distributed any instruction to bring tankers into its berths, even though there were some vessels in schedule, a source familiar with the company's operations said.
The Port of Freeport last week reopened the navigation channel, but draft restrictions for vessels remain, the Brazos Pilots Association said.
Long waits for vessels that have back-to-back contracts tend to lead to cargo cancellations.
Freeport LNG has canceled at least 10 cargoes for loading through August, Bloomberg reported, citing traders familiar with the matter.
Freeport LNG said on Thursday it would not comment on its commercial activity, including cargoes.
Gas flows to the seven big U.S. LNG export plants has fallen to 11.6 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in July due mostly to the Freeport outage, down from 12.8 bcfd in June and a monthly record high of 14.7 bcfd in December 2023.
US natgas prices climb 4% on small storage build, hot weather forecasts nL1N3JA0N2
Reporting by Marianna Parraga, Curtis Williams and Arathy Somasekhar
Editing by Marguerita Choy
Eng oxirgi yangiliklar
Javobgarlikdan voz kechish: XM Group korxonalari har biri faqat ijro xizmatlarini koʻrsatadi va onlayn savdo platformamizdan foydalanish huquqini beradi, bu odamga veb-saytda yoki veb-sayt orqali mavjud boʻlgan kontentni koʻrish va/yoki undan foydalanishga ruxsat beradi hamda uni oʻzgartirishga moʻljallanmagan va uni oʻzgartirmaydi yoki kengaytirmaydi. Bunday kirish va foydalanish huquqi doimo quyidagilarga boʻysunadi: (i) Shartlar va qoidalar; (ii) Risklar haqida ogohlantirish; va (iii) Javobgarlikni toʻliq rad etish. Shuning uchun bunday kontent umumiy maʼlumot sifatida taqdim etiladi. Xususan, shuni esda tutingki, bizning onlayn savdo platformamiz mazmuni moliyaviy bozorlarda biror bitimni amalga oshirishga oid maslahat yoki taklif emas. Har qanday moliyaviy bozorda savdo qilish sizning kapitalingiz uchun jiddiy risk darajasini oʻz ichiga oladi.
Onlayn savdo platformamizda chop etilgan barcha materiallar faqat taʼlim/axborot maqsadlari uchun moʻljallangan va unda moliyaviy, investitsiya soligʻi yoki savdo maslahatlari va tavsiyalar; yoki bizning savdo narxlarimizning qaydlari; yoki har qanday moliyaviy vositalar bilan bitim tuzish maslahati yoki taklifi; yoki sizga kerak boʻlmagan moliyaviy reklama aksiyalari hisoblanmaydi
Har qanday uchinchi tomon kontenti, shuningdek XM tomonidan tayyorlangan kontent, masalan: fikrlar, yangiliklar, tadqiqotlar, tahlillar, narxlar va boshqa maʼlumotlar yoki bu veb-saytda joylashgan uchinchi tomon saytlariga havolalar umumiy bozor sharhi sifatida "boricha" taqdim etiladi va investitsiya maslahatini tashkil etmaydi. Har qanday kontent investitsiya tadqiqoti sifatida talqin qilinsa, siz bunday kontentni investitsiya tadqiqotlarining mustaqilligini ragʻbatlantirish uchun moʻljallangan qonun talablariga muvofiq moʻljallanmagan va tayyorlanmaganligini eʼtiborga olishingiz va qabul qilishingiz kerak, shuning uchun unga tegishli qonunlar va qoidalarga muvofiq marketing kommunikatsiyasi sifatida qaraladi. Mustaqil boʻlmagan investitsiya tadqiqoti va yuqoridagi maʼlumotlarga oid risk haqida ogohlantirishimizni oʻqib chiqqaningizga va tushunganingizga ishonch hosil qiling, unga bu yerdan kirish mumkin.
