US liquefied natural gas exports rose in the week ending May 15 compared to the week before, with the Freeport LNG terminal shipping four cargoes during the period, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The agency said in its weekly report that 28 LNG carriers departed the US plants between May 9 and May 15, six shipments more compared to the week before. This is also the highest weekly number of cargoes since January this year, the data shows.
Citing shipping data provided by Bloomberg Finance, the EIA said the total capacity of these 28 LNG vessels is 102 Bcf.
Natural gas deliveries to US terminals up
Average natural gas deliveries to US LNG export terminals increased by 3.5 percent (0.4 Bcf/d) week over week, averaging 12.7 Bcf/d, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Natural gas deliveries to terminals in South Louisiana decreased by 4.7 percent (0.4 Bcf/d) to 7.4 Bcf/d, while natural gas deliveries to terminals in South Texas increased 23.5 percent (0.8 Bcf/d) to 4.1 Bcf/d.
The agency said that scheduled volumes of natural gas at the Stratton Ridge delivery location for Freeport LNG in South Texas on the Gulf South Pipeline increased 48.7 percent this report week from an average of 0.9 Bcf/d last week to 1.3 Bcf/d this week.
Natural gas deliveries to terminals outside the Gulf Coast were essentially unchanged at 1.2 Bcf/d.
Cheniere’s Sabine Pass plant shipped ten cargoes and the company’s Corpus Christi facility sent three shipments during the week under review.
Venture Global LNG’s Calcasieu Pass facility and the Freeport LNG terminal each shipped four cargoes while Sempra Infrastructure’s Cameron LNG terminal shipped three cargoes during the period.
Also, the Elba Island and the Cove Point facility each sent two cargoes during the week under review.
Freeport LNG, the operator of the 15 mtpa liquefaction plant in Texas, told LNG Prime on Wednesday it has resumed operations at all of its three liquefaction trains.
The LNG terminal operator said on March 20 that only the third liquefaction train was operating.
Since then, the plant has been shipping about one LNG cargo per week, and increased its shipments in the week ending May 8 to three.
Henry Hub climbs
This report week, the Henry Hub spot price rose 14 cents from $2.01 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday to $2.15/MMBtu this Wednesday.
The agency said the price of the June 2024 NYMEX contract increased 22.9 cents, from $2.187/MMBtu last Wednesday to $2.416/MMBtu this Wednesday.
According to the agency, the price of the 12-month strip averaging June 2024 through May 2025 futures contracts climbed 8.2 cents to $3.049/MMBtu.
TTF averaged $9.50/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 were the same week over week at a weekly average of $10.46/MMBtu.
Natural gas futures for delivery at the Dutch TTF decreased 27 cents to a weekly average of $9.50/MMBtu.
In the same week last year (week ending May 17, 2023), the prices were $10.44/MMBtu at TTF and $10.62/MMBtu in East Asia, the agency said.