US liquefaction plants shipped 24 liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes in the week ending February 7, while natural gas deliveries to these terminals decreased by 4.9 percent compared to the week before.
The EIA said in its weekly report, citing shipping data provided by Bloomberg Finance, that the total capacity of these 24 LNG vessels is 89 Bcf.
The agency did not release its weekly report in the prior week.
During the week of January 18-24, 2024, US terminals shipped 20 LNG cargoes.
Natural gas deliveries to US terminals down
Average natural gas deliveries to US LNG export terminals decreased by 0.7 Bcf/d week over week, averaging 13.3 Bcf/d, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Natural gas deliveries to terminals in South Louisiana decreased by 1.4 percent (0.1 Bcf/d) to 9.2 Bcf/d, while natural gas deliveries to terminals in South Texas decreased by 15.1 percent (0.5 Bcf/d) to 2.9 Bcf/d.
The agency said that nearly all the declines in South Texas occurred at Cheniere’s Corpus Christi LNG terminal, where natural gas receipts fell by, on average, 0.5 Bcf/d, or close to 25 percent week over week.
Natural gas deliveries to terminals outside the Gulf Coast were essentially unchanged at 1.2 Bcf/d.
Cheniere’s Sabine Pass plant shipped nine cargoes and the company’s Corpus Christi facility sent three shipments during February 1 and February 7.
Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG terminal sent four cargoes and the Freeport LNG terminal and Sempra Infrastructure’s Cameron LNG terminal each shipped three cargoes during the week under review.
Also, the Cove Point LNG terminal shipped two cargoes, while the Elba terminal did not ship cargoes during the period.
Henry Hub drops to $1.97/MMBtu
This report week, the Henry Hub spot price fell 26 cents from $2.23 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday to $1.97/MMBtu this Wednesday, the lowest price since June 12, 2023, the agency said.
The price of the March 2024 NYMEX contract decreased 13.3 cents, from $2.100/MMBtu last Wednesday to $1.967/MMBtu this Wednesday.
According to the agency, this is the lowest settlement price for the March 2024 contract since trading of this contract began 12 years ago.
The price of the 12-month strip, averaging March 2024 through February 2025 futures contracts, declined 12.5 cents to $2.641/MMBtu, the agency said.
TTF averaged $9.07/MMBtu
The agency said that international natural gas futures were mixed this report week.
Bloomberg Finance reported that weekly average front-month futures prices for LNG cargoes in East Asia rose 4 cents to a weekly average of $9.46/MMBtu.
Natural gas futures for delivery at the Dutch TTF fell 6 cents to a weekly average of $9.07/MMBtu.
In the same week last year (week ending February 8, 2023), the prices were $18.30/MMBtu in East Asia and $17.83/MMBtu at TTF.
The last time early-February prices at TTF averaged below $10/MMBtu was in 2021, the agency said.