Freeport LNG welcomes first vessel since June last year

The three-train 15 mtpa Freeport LNG export plant in Texas has received the first LNG tanker since the shutdown in June last year, according to shipping data.

The 2008-built 155,000-cbm LNG carrier, Kmarin Diamond, docked at the first of two Freeport LNG jetties on Friday, according its AIS data provided by VesselsValue.

Kmarin Diamond is chartered by BP, one of the offtakers of Freeport LNG volumes along Jera, Osaka Gas, SK E&S, and TotalEnergies.

The LNG carrier was anchored offshore Quitana Island, where the Freeport LNG terminal is located, since the end of December last year, the data shows.

Prior to that, it delivered a Sabine Pass LNG cargo to the Croatian FSRU.

In addition to Kmarin Diamond, there are at least four more LNG tankers anchored offshore the terminal, including Corcovado LNG, Prism Agility, Nonshu Maru, and LNG Rosenrot.

Freeport LNG received approval from the US FERC on February 9 to “return to service LNG Loop 1 circulation and Dock 1 for ship loading” as part of the restart process.

Prior to this, Freeport LNG secured approval to start introducing natural gas into the third liquefaction train.

Reports suggest that the LNG carrier Kmarin Diamond would probably load volumes from Freeport LNG’s tanks that were produced prior to the incident that took place on June 8 last year.

Freeport LNG did not provide an update on the restart process since December last year.

The LNG terminal operator delayed the restart of the facility several times.

Osaka Gas recently said it now expects loss related to the Freeport LNG outage for the fiscal ending March 2023 to increase to 149.5 billion yen ($1.13 billion).

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