US LNG exports dropped in the week ending October 13 when compared to the week before, while the Henry Hub spot price decreased as well.
The Energy Information Administration said in its weekly natural gas report that the US has exported 16 LNG shipments between October 7 and October 13.
This compares to 20 LNG cargoes during the prior week.
Also, natural gas deliveries to US LNG export facilities averaged 10.5 Bcf/d, or 0.5 Bcf/d higher than last week.
Four US terminals exported the 16 cargoes during the week under review. The total capacity of LNG vessels carrying these cargoes is 58 Bcf, compared to 74 Bcf in the week before.
Cheniere’s Sabine Pass plant dispatched six cargoes, while its Corpus Christi plant sent three shipments. The Freeport LNG terminal sent four cargoes and Cameron three.
The Cove Point LNG export facility in Maryland is also now back in action following the completion of a three-week maintenance outage. The facility resumed operations on October 12.
Henry Hub drops
This report week, the Henry Hub spot price fell from a weekly high of $5.95/MMBtu last Wednesday to $5.45/MMBtu this Wednesday, after declining to a weekly low of $5.36/MMBtu on Tuesday, the agency said.
The natural gas market in Southern Louisiana, where the Henry Hub is located, tightened this report week.
IHS Markit estimates average net flows into Southern Louisiana declined by more than 0.4 Bcf/d week over week as a result of less natural gas flowing from the north.
Demand in the region remained relatively flat, averaging 12.2 Bcf/d, which is less than 0.1 Bcf/d below the previous report week.
LNG prices up, TTF down
International natural gas prices were mixed this report week.
Bloomberg Finance reported that swap prices for November LNG cargoes in East Asia rose for the seventh week in a row to a weekly average of $33.24/MMBtu this report week, the highest weekly average on record since January 2020 and 76¢/MMBtu above last week’s average of $32.48/MMBtu.
At the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), the most liquid European natural gas spot market, day-ahead prices declined for the first week since late August to a weekly average of $29.40/MMBtu this report week, down $2.88/MMBtu from last week’s average of $32.28/MMBtu, EIA said.
In the same week last year (week ending October 14, 2020), prices in East Asia and at TTF were $5.14/MMBtu and $4.73/MMBtu, respectively, the agency said.