Cheniere's LA Sabine Pass LNG Output Dips
Production at Cheniere Energy Inc's Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Louisiana fell well below full capacity on Friday, according to Reuters data:
The volume of gas flowing into the facility dropped from about 3.2 billion cubic feet per day on Wednesday to 2.8 bcfd on Thursday and a projected 1.5 bcfd on Friday, Reuters data showed. One bcfd is enough gas to fuel about five million U.S. homes.
The plant had been operating near full capacity with about 3.2 bcfd of gas flowing in since mid-January when freezing water during a brutal cold snap forced the company to briefly reduce operations.
Officials at Cheniere would not comment on the latest reduction. Earlier this week, the company said its operations were not affected following an order on Feb. 8 from federal regulators to shut two cracked storage tanks that leaked the super-cold fuel.
There are four 0.7-bcfd liquefaction trains active at Sabine Pass, currently the only big LNG export facility in the United States. There is also one train under construction at the plant that is expected to enter service in 2019
Several companies have 20-year agreements to buy LNG from Sabine, including units of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Gas Natural SDG SA, Korea Gas Corp, Gail (India) Ltd, Total SA and Centrica PLC
Reporting by Scott DiSavino