US liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports rose in the week ending May 8 compared to the week before, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The agency said in its weekly report that 22 LNG carriers departed the US plants between May 2 and May 8, one shipment more compared to the week before.
Citing shipping data provided by Bloomberg Finance, the EIA said the total capacity of these LNG vessels is 79 Bcf.
Natural gas deliveries to US terminals climb
Average natural gas deliveries to US LNG export terminals increased by 0.6 percent (0.1 Bcf/d) week over week, averaging 12.3 Bcf/d, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Natural gas deliveries to terminals in South Louisiana decreased by 9.5 percent (0.8 Bcf/d) to 7.7 Bcf/d, while natural gas deliveries to terminals in South Texas increased 37.4 percent (0.9 Bcf/d) to 3.3 Bcf/d.
The agency said that natural gas deliveries to terminals outside of the US 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 four shipments during the week under review.
Venture Global LNG’s Calcasieu Pass facility and the Freeport LNG terminal each shipped three cargoes while Sempra Infrastructure’s Cameron LNG terminal shipped two cargoes during the period.
Also, the Elba Island sent one LNG cargo and the Cove Point facility did not ship cargoes during the week under review.
Freeport LNG, south of Houston, Texas said in March it will operate with only the third train until “sometime in May” when it expects to bring back online the first and the second train.
According to reports, the third LNG train tripped offline on April 9 and on April 23 as well.
The terminal increased its shipments during this week as it shipped only one cargo per week during the previous weeks.
Reports suggest that Freeport LNG could be working to resume full operations from all of the three trains due to high feedgas intake.
The LNG terminal operator previously declined to comment on the operational status of the trains.
Henry Hub up
This report week, the Henry Hub spot price rose 38 cents from $1.63 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday to $2.01/MMBtu this Wednesday.
The agency said the price of the June 2024 NYMEX contract increased 25.5 cents, from $1.932/MMBtu last Wednesday to $2.187/MMBtu this Wednesday.
According to the agency, the price of the 12-month strip averaging June 2024 through May 2025 futures contracts rose 8.7 cents to $2.967/MMBtu.
TTF averaged $9.77/MMBtu
The agency said that international natural gas futures increased this report week.
Bloomberg Finance reported that weekly average front-month futures prices for LNG cargoes in East Asia increased 16 cents to a weekly average of $10.46/MMBtu.
Natural gas futures for delivery at the Dutch TTF increased 70 cents to a weekly average of $9.77/MMBtu.
In the same week last year (week ending May 10, 2023), the prices were $11.28/MMBtu in East Asia and $11.61/MMBtu at TTF, the agency said.