A liquefied natural gas tanker was docked at the Freeport LNG terminal for the first time in almost two weeks on Friday evening, according to LSEG ship tracking data, likely signaling the resumption of exports of the superchilled gas from the second-largest LNG exporter.
The docking of the Axios II follows Freeport LNG shutting its three liquefaction plants, also called trains, on July 7 as a precaution to protect the trains from Hurricane Beryl.
Freeport has been slow to restart its plant, having only resumed operations on Monday after reporting wind damage to its fin fan air cooler.
The plant was on track to pull in about 0.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of gas on Friday, up from 0.5 bcfd on Thursday after pulling in almost no gas from July 7-15, LSEG data showed.
Gas flows to the seven big U.S. LNG export plants have fallen to an average 11.6 bcfd so far this month from 12.8 bcfd in June and a monthly record high of 14.7 bcfd in December.
Freeport 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.
Freeport did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
(Reporting by Curtis Williams in Houston; Editing by William Mallard)