US LNG firm Venture Global LNG has shipped another cargo from its Calcasieu Pass liquefaction plant in Louisiana to Europe since the start of production in January.
The 2013-built, 173,000-cbm Stena Crystal Sky, picked up the fourth Calcasieu cargo and left the facility on Thursday.
According to data by VesselsValue, the Stena-owned and ENN Energy-chartered LNG carrier is heading towards Italy’s Livorno, the home of OLT Offshore’s FSRU Toscana.
However, the vessel may change its final destination in the meantime.
The first two out of three Calcasieu Pass cargoes have already landed in Europe, one at France’s Dunkirk LNG terminal and the other at the UK’s South Hook facility.
In addition, the 2019-built, 180,000-cbm Nohshu Maru, owned by MOL and chartered by Jera Global Markets, took the third cargo and departed from the terminal last week.
The vessel previously signaled Northwestern Europe as its final destination. However, it changed its course and was on Friday still located offshore Colon, near the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal, its AIS data shows.
More US LNG exports to Europe
US LNG exports to Europe have been constantly rising during the last months.
The European Union plans to significantly slash Russian pipeline gas supplies this year by boosting imports of LNG, filling up gas storages, and increasing renewables
The EU imported 155 bcm of gas from Russia last year, including LNG.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that the EU would present a new plan on Friday with US President Joe Biden under which the EU would receive more US LNG to replace Russian gas and LNG supplies.
Several media reports said that the plan includes the US sending up to 15 bcm of additional LNG supplies by the end of 2022.
This could also mean that US producers, which are already producing at maximum capacity, would reroute some of the Asian and other supplies to the EU, meaning that the EU would pay a hefty price.
Data from the European Commission shows that in 2021 US LNG exports to the EU recorded the highest volume, reaching more than 22 bcm, with an estimated value of 12 billion euros ($13.2 billion).
In January 2022 imports reached the highest monthly, amounting to 4.4 bcm.
By January 2022, the EU imported more than 64 billion cubic meters of LNG from the US since April 2016, the data shows.