Freeport LNG’s export plant in Texas was on track to take in more natural gas on Friday after one of three liquefaction trains shut on Thursday, according to a company report and data from financial firm LSEG.
Freeport is one of the world’s most closely watched liquefied natural gas export plants because the shutdown and startup of the facility previously caused massive price swings in global gas markets.
When Freeport shuts, U.S. gas prices usually drop because the plant’s demand for the fuel declines, and when liquefaction trains at Freeport restart, U.S. gas prices typically rise as demand for the fuel increases.
That is what happened so far on Friday with U.S. gas futures trading up around 1% due in part to the increased feedgas to Freeport.
Freeport told Texas environmental regulators on Friday that Train 1 shut on Thursday due to an issue with a compressor system. LSEG data showed that gas flows to Freeport were on track to rise to 1.3 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) on Friday, up from 0.9 bcfd on Thursday. Since July 10, Freeport had been pulling in an average of just 1.0 bcfd of gas during maintenance work expected to last until late August.
The three liquefaction trains at Freeport are capable of turning about 2.4 bcfd of gas into LNG.
One billion cubic feet of gas is enough to supply about 5 million U.S. homes for a day.
(Reporting by Anjana Anil in Bengaluru and Scott DiSavino in New York Editing by Nick Zieminski and Nia Williams)