Freeport LNG restart pushed back to Nov, Euro TTF soars above €300/MWh
Quantum Commodity Intelligence - Freeport LNG has pushed back the restart of exports from the Texas terminal by one month, with November now the target, the company announced late Tuesday.
Freeport had said in early August that it was targeting early October for a partial restart of operations, where exports have been suspended since a blast in June.
US natural gas futures retreated around 8% on the news after the front-month Sep22 Henry Hub contract on NYMEX briefly touched $10/mmBtu on Tuesday, before ending the day at around $9.20/mmBtu.
"It is anticipated that initial production can commence in early to mid-November, and ramp up to a sustained level of at least 2 BCF (billion cubic feet) per day by the end of November, representing over 85% of the export capacity of the facility," said Freeport.
The statement further added the recovery plan will utilize Freeport LNG's second loading dock as a lay berth until full loading capabilities are reinstated in March 2023, at which time Freeport anticipates being capable of operating at 100% of capacity.
The delay helped underpin European natural gas prices with the benchmark TTF price for Oct22 trading at around contract highs over €300/MWh on Wednesday, up around 11% on the day.
After the 15 million mt per annum export facility was knocked offline, the company said the closure would wipe out export capacity until at least October, and it would not return to full operating capacity until December at the earliest.
In the wake of the blast, the EIA said the nation's LNG exports would fall to an average of 10.9 billion cubic feet per day from the 11.9 billion cubic feet per day projected last month.
