Commodities and Futures News

Texas tanker bottleneck grows on slow Freeport LNG restart after Beryl

2024.07.18 14:02

HOUSTON (Reuters) – The number of liquefied (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 plans to restart one processing train this week and the remaining two trains shortly after, but production will be reduced while it continues repairs.

U.S. gas futures 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, the facility was increasing production with it expected to use 500 million cubic feet of gas, up from 400 mmcf on Wednesday, according to LSEG data.

However, vessel loading has not resumed. A total of six empty LNG tankers were anchored near the port, with some of them accumulating more than 10 days of wait, 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.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Model of LNG tanker is seen in front of the U.S. flag in this illustration taken May 19, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

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.



Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 97,479.12 1.06%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,339.53 2.83%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.09%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 250.31 3.41%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 655.18 0.78%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 1.38 7.43%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.418752 6.38%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 0.999375 0.06%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.988451 8.89%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,341.04 2.70%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.207769 3.62%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 40.69 4.52%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.509346 13.30%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 6.08 4.71%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000025 7.79%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 3,961.14 2.59%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 97,373.09 0.64%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 8.57 8.86%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 17.47 2.99%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 505.44 3.30%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,341.63 2.70%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 3.34 5.75%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.00002 5.21%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 6.80 6.17%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.63 0.38%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 95.75 6.41%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 12.09 8.48%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 10.69 2.17%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,519.06 2.80%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.139743 11.03%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 11.20 5.46%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 0.998841 0.24%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.183812 8.57%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.549728 7.24%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 28.14 6.88%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 7.93 0.70%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.50 2.37%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 526.57 1.66%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.06%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.150221 3.82%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 24.39 1.57%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 0.999352 0.07%
bonk
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000046 7.35%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.835542 5.52%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.042125 4.15%
blockstack
Stacks (STX) $ 2.27 7.42%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 5.49 6.05%
okb
OKB (OKB) $ 55.01 6.82%
celestia
Celestia (TIA) $ 7.64 3.10%
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 8.34 9.74%