US liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports dropped in the week ending June 7, while the Henry Hub spot price rose slightly when compared to the week before, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The EIA said in its weekly natural gas report that 22 LNG carriers departed the US plants between June 1 and June 7, one vessel less when compared to the week before.
The agency said that the total capacity of these LNG vessels is 81 Bcf.
Moreover, natural gas deliveries to US LNG export terminals decreased by 10.5 percent (1.4 Bcf/d) week over week to average 11.9 Bcf/d this report week, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Natural gas deliveries to terminals in South Texas were essentially unchanged at 4.3 Bcf/d, while deliveries to terminals in South Louisiana decreased by 17.4 percent (1.4 Bcf/d) to 6.5 Bcf/d largely due to decreased flows to the Sabine Pass terminal, the agency said.
Maintenance scheduled for June 5 through June 9 on the Gillis compressor station on the Creole Trail Pipeline accounts for some of the decline in natural gas deliveries to Sabine Pass, it said.
Natural gas deliveries to terminals outside the Gulf Coast were essentially unchanged at 1.2 Bcf/d.
For the first time since the beginning of the year, weekly average natural gas deliveries to LNG export terminals fell below 12 Bcf/d, the agency said.
Cheniere’s Sabine Pass plant shipped six cargoes and its Corpus Christi facility sent four shipments during the week under review.
The Freeport LNG terminal shipped four cargoes, while Sempra’s Cameron LNG terminal dispatched three cargoes, the EIA said, citing shipping data by Bloomberg Finance.
Also, Venture Global LNG’s Calcasieu Pass and the Cove Point LNG terminal each shipped two LNG cargoes and Elba Island LNG sent one cargo during the week under review.
Henry Hub slightly up
This report week, the Henry Hub spot price rose 1 cent from $2.10 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday to $2.11/MMBtu this Wednesday, the agency said.
After averaging $1.91/MMBtu for the first five trading days in June, the Henry Hub spot price rose above $2.00 on Wednesday for the first time this month, it said.
Moreover, the price of the July 2023 NYMEX contract increased 6.3 cents, from $2.266/MMBtu last Wednesday to $2.329/MMBtu this Wednesday.
The price of the 12-month strip averaging July 2023 through June 2024 futures contracts climbed 8 cents to $3.040/MMBtu, it said.
TTF down to $7.95/MMBtu
The agency said that international natural gas futures decreased this report week.
Bloomberg Finance reported that weekly average front-month futures prices for LNG cargoes in East Asia fell 6 cents to a weekly average of $9.25/MMBtu.
Natural gas futures for delivery at the Dutch TTF fell 3 cents to a weekly average of $7.95/MMBtu.
In the same week last year (week ending June 8, 2022), the prices were $23.41/MMBtu in East Asia and $25.68/MMBtu at TTF, the agency said.
