Some LNG Carriers Avoiding the Red Sea as Attacks Increase
Several liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels have changed their courses in recent days to avoid the Red Sea region amid maritime attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on the world's main East-West trade route.The Red Sea is linked to the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal, creating the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia, and is connected to the Gulf of Aden by the Bab-el-Mandeb strait between Yemen and Djibouti. About 12% of world shipping traffic transits the canal.But attacks in recent days on ships along the route have led companies such as oil major BP…
US LNG Exports Through Panama Canal Shrink, Asia-Europe Spreads Widen
The number of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels transiting the Panama Canal to Asia halved in November compared with a year ago as Asia prices for the gas this week traded at their steepest premium to European prices in nearly two years.A severe drought has cut vessel traffic through the canal, increasing costs for shippers that take alternative routes or pay extra fees for auctioned slots in Panama. Further restrictions on canal transits likely will put more cargoes on lengthier routes…
FOCUS-How Shipping More US Natural Gas to Europe Helped Fuel CO2 Pollution
Carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. liquefied natural gas facilities have jumped to 18 million tons per year, up 81% since 2019, adding a volume of greenhouse gas to the atmosphere equivalent to that produced by several big coal plants, according to United States government data.They could more than double to 45 million tons per year by the end of the decade as new facilities, encouraged by soaring overseas demand for the super-cooled fuel, come online, according to company projections provided to the U.S.
US October LNG Exports Climb to Second Highest Level on Record
U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) producers ramped up exports in October, to 7.92 million metric tons, according to data provider LSEG, the second-highest monthly level on record.Exports were just shy of the record 8.01 million metric tons in April this year, and were up from 7.12 million metric tons in September, when plant maintenance reduced U.S. production.The U.S. was the world's largest exporter of LNG in the first half of this year, according to the Energy Information Agency, ahead of Qatar and Australia.
US LNG Exports Slip in August
U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell in August as some processing plants reduced output and a heat wave increased gas demand for power, leaving less gas available for LNG production, according to vessel monitoring data and analysts.Above-normal temperatures and drought hit the U.S. Southwest last month, triggering record electricity demand and forcing providers to ask users to voluntarily reduce consumption. Maintenance outages also curbed processing at two Cheniere Energy facilities: Sabine Pass in Louisiana and Corpus Christi in Texas.Gas supply to the seven largest U.S.
Drought-hit Panama Canal Lets More Unbooked Ships Pass in bid to Ease Queue
The drought-hit Panama Canal has temporarily limited the number of new reserved passage slots to help ease a bottleneck of ships that are waiting to transit without reservations, the waterway's authority said on Thursday.A logjam of commercial vessels seeking to pass through the canal, one of the world's busiest trade passages, has sent companies that typically use the waterway chasing alternative routes, according to executives and data.Any delay or disruption can put shippers on edge.
Cheniere Shunning Panama Canal for Longer LNG Routes to Asia
Top U.S. LNG exporter Cheniere Energy LNG.A is shunning the Panama Canal to transport liquefied natural gas to Asia because the market is not supporting use of the waterway, said Chief Operating Officer Corey Grindal on Monday.The Panama Canal historically has been used by U.S Gulf Coast LNG exporters to send LNG to Asian customers via the Pacific Ocean. But a months-long drought has led to delays and depth restrictions for the largest ships accessing the canal."We use the canal when it is economical to do so, right now it is not.
Cheniere Energy Returns Louisiana LNG Export Plant to Full Production
Cheniere Energy Inc's Sabine Pass LNG export facility returned to full production this week after undergoing maintenance, data from Refinitiv showed.The increased production is expected to help third quarter exports of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) which fell in May to 7.66 million tonnes from a record 8.01 million tonnes in April, as plant maintenance curbed some output.The Louisiana-based export facility started reducing its natural gas consumption on June 1 when it fell to 3.77 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) from 4.56 bcfd on May 31…
Cheniere, Equinor ink Long-term LNG Deal
Equinor and Cheniere announced a new 15-year purchase agreement of around 1.75 million tons of LNG per year, with half of the volume starting from 2027. This agreement brings the total volumes that Equinor has contracted with Cheniere up to around 3.5 million tonnes per year.This new Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA) with Cheniere will double the volumes of LNG that Equinor will export out of Cheniere’s LNG terminals on the U.S. Gulf coast.
US Permit Crackdown Poses New Hurdles for Proposed LNG Projects
The U.S. Department of Energy's refusal to grant export permit extensions to liquefied natural gas (LNG) developers that fail to meet a construction deadline poses a new hurdle for greenfield plants, analysts said on Thursday.The DOE last month said it would grant future extensions solely on extenuating circumstances and rejected an extension for Energy Transfer's proposed Lake Charles LNG project.The change will fall heavily on firms without a track record and available financing, analysts said.Around a dozen LNG projects in the U.S.
Wave of New LNG Export Plants Threatens to Knock Gas Prices
A flood of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects due online worldwide in mid-decade will vie against lower-cost renewable energy and a revived nuclear power sector, which could rock gas prices and hurt some proposed projects, analysts say.Proposed and approved new LNG plants would boost LNG supply by 67% increase to 636 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2030 from 2021 levels, potentially saturating the gas market."There's over a trillion dollars of natural gas infrastructure being built in the world today.
Asia Demand to Drive Cheniere's LNG Shipments this Year
Cheniere Energy expects to ship more liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Asia this year, after European customers took the lion's share of its 2022 cargoes, an official said on Monday.The top U.S. exporter of LNG shipped a total of 638 cargoes last year, with slightly over 70% delivered to Europe, Chief Operating Officer Corey Grindal said at the CERAWeek energy conference.Cheniere last year gave the financial go ahead for an expansion of its Corpus Christi, Texas, liquefaction plant and has sought an early environmental review with federal regulators for an expansion at its Sabine Pass…
US LNG Producers Poised to Leapfrog Rivals with Three New Projects
At least three proposed U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants have likely found enough customers to receive financial approvals this year, according to Reuters calculations, developments that would make the country the world's largest LNG exporter for years to come.After a dearth of plant approvals last decade, developers have secured dozens of long-term contracts to finance new multibillion-dollar LNG plants. The pace of approvals has accelerated as Europe has shifted…
Freeport LNG Restart Delay Causes Vessels to Seek Other Ports
A few liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels have turned away from the Freeport LNG export plant in Texas over the past few days on expectations the plant's restart will be delayed until December or later, according to ship tracking data from Refinitiv.Federal pipeline safety regulators on Tuesday released a heavily redacted consultant's report that blamed inadequate operating and testing procedures, human error and fatigue for the June 8 explosion that shut the Freeport plant.Freeport had not yet submitted a request to resume service to the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) as of earlier this week.
Freeport LNG to Miss Restart Target for Fire-damaged Texas Export Plant
The owner of the second-largest U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant has not yet provided regulators with a final repair plan, according to a person familiar with the matter, likely pushing any restart into the first quarter of next year.The outage since a fiery explosion in June has underscored the global demand for new gas supplies and required major LNG traders and customers of the roughly 16 million tonne per year processing facility to buy replacement cargoes at huge markups.Freeport LNG had pledged in August to restart gas-processing by early to mid-November…
LNG Ships Play Waiting Game Off Spain's Coast as Higher Prices Eyed
Several ships carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) anchored off Spain's Bay of Cadiz are likely to stay there until late November in anticipation of a rise in European gas prices, industry sources said.Dozens of ships have been circling off the Iberian coast and in the Mediterranean sea for weeks, unable to secure slots to unload their LNG cargoes as plants that convert the superchilled fuel back to gas are operating at maximum capacity.The high volume of LNG in floating storage exposes Europe's lack of "regasification" capacity just as the continent stocks up for a winter of substantially less Russian pipeline gas.But industry sources say some of the waiting ships are part of a trading strategy from their respective companies…
Cheniere to Fix Louisiana LNG Plant After Failing Pollution Test
Top U.S. LNG exporter Cheniere Energy Inc said it will repair and replace equipment at its Louisiana terminal after tests showed it exceeded newly-imposed hazardous emissions limits on certain known carcinogens, but the work will have no material impact on operations.A round of testing showed at least one of Cheniere's turbines at its liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Louisiana failed the new standards, while the turbines in Texas at the company's only other U.S.
US Becomes Top LNG Exporter in First Half of 2022 -EIA
The United States became the top liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter in the first half of 2022, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, citing data from CEDIGAZ, as the country increased supply to Europe amid the Ukraine crisis.U.S. LNG exports rose 12% to average 11.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in the first half of the year compared with the second half of 2021, the EIA said. Increased LNG export capacity, higher prices, and demand, particularly from Europe…
Cheniere Asks Biden Admin to Drop Pollution Rule
Cheniere Energy Inc has asked the Biden administration to exempt it from limits on emissions of cancer-causing pollutants, arguing they would force the top U.S. exporter of liquefied natural gas to shut for an extended period and endanger the country's efforts to ramp up supplies to Europe, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.The request imposes an uncomfortable dilemma on President Joe Biden’s administration as it tries to balance efforts to slash pollution from the fossil…
Tankers Divert to Trinidad, Maryland After Freeport LNG Blast
At least six tankers set to load liquefied natural gas (LNG) at Freeport LNG this month have been diverted following the June 8 blast that shut the Texas facility, Refinitiv Eikon vessel tracking data showed.A partial restart of the Quintana, Texas, plant is not expected until at least September, the company said last week, leaving about 40 cargoes to be canceled or re-scheduled. The loss has European LNG buyers and some U.S. shale producers reeling, while rivals Cheniere Energy and Sempra LNG rush to produce more LNG to offset the losses.Freeport accounts for roughly 20% of U.S. LNG processing capacity, drawing 2.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of natural gas, primarily from U.S. shale fields.
LNG Prices Could Stay High for a Few Years, Woodside CEO Says
Woodside Energy Group, Australia's top independent natural gas producer, sees liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices staying high for a few years as the market adjusts to supply disruptions after sanctions on Russia for its Ukraine invasion."With the invasion, we are seeing the world try to move away from Russian hydrocarbons and that means that demand for LNG from places like Australia is up," Woodside Chief Executive Meg O'Neill said."We do expect ... prices to remain elevated for the next year…
U.S. LNG Exports Drop. Europe Remains Top Destination
U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell about 8% last month, according to preliminary Refinitiv vessel tracking data on Monday, but Europe remained the top importer as the continent secures alternate supply following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.U.S. LNG exports to all destinations came to about 7.10 million tonnes (MT) last month, according to Refinitiv, down from a record high 7.67 MT in March.Europe was the top importer of U.S. LNG for a fifth straight month, taking about 64% of U.S. exports, according to the data.
Cheniere Declares Option for the 5th LNG Carrier from Flex LNG
Flex LNG announced on Friday that Cheniere has declared it option to employ a fifth liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier under a time charter deal announced in April 2021. Flex Aurora will commence a 3.5-year time charter during third quarter of 2022.Earlier this month the U.S. Energy Department authorized additional LNG exports from Cheniere's Sabine Pass, La. and Corpus Christi, Texas terminals In addition, Cheniere and Flex LNG agreed that Flex Volunteer will be the fourth ship under the agreement and that this ship will be delivered to Cheniere mid-April 2022 rather than during third quarter of 2022 as originally agreed. The 3.5-year time charter has therefore been extended by about 2.5 months to facilitate early delivery.Last year…