US LNG exports rose in the week ending February 9, while the Henry Hub spot price logged a drop when compared to the week before, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The agency said in its weekly natural gas report that the US has exported 27 LNG shipments between February 3 and February 9, up by five cargoes when compared to the week before.
Natural gas deliveries to LNG export facilities averaged 12.4 Bcf/d, or 0.3 Bcf/d higher than last week.
Six US terminals exported the 27 cargoes during the week under review. The total capacity of LNG vessels carrying these cargoes is 101 Bcf.
Cheniere’s Sabine Pass plant dispatched nine cargoes, while its Corpus Christi plant sent five shipments. The Cameron terminal sent five shipments, Freeport four, while Cove Point and Elba Island each sent two cargoes.
Henry Hub spot price drops
This report week, the Henry Hub spot price fell from $6.44 MMBtu last Wednesday to $4.06/MMBtu this Wednesday.
Most of the price decline occurred on Monday, when the price fell almost $1.00/MMBtu, in response to production declines in Texas that were reported to be lower than initially expected, EIA said.
The production decline was also well below the 10.0 Bcf/d decrease in production reported in February 2021 after a mid-month storm caused production shut-ins across much of the region.
Prices continued to fall over the rest of the report week as temperatures rose and production returned, the agency said.
IHS Markit reported feed gas deliveries to LNG terminals in South Louisiana increased by 289 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) this report week to 7.0 Bcf/d.
Feed gas deliveries to Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG export terminal rose this report week as well.
TransCameron Pipeline, which moves natural gas to Calcasieu Pass, reported that flows to the terminal were close to 250 MMcf/d on February 5, a record high, and have remained close to 200 MMcf/d since then.
LNG has been steadily produced at the terminal since early January, EIA said.
Venture Global LNG is expected to ship the first commissioning cargo from its Calcasieu Pass terminal soon, following the arrival of the 174,000-cbm tanker Yiannis at the plant.
The firm said in a report sent to FERC last week it had started producing LNG at its Calcasieu Pass terminal on January 19.
LNG prices, TTF down
According to the agency, international natural gas prices fell this report week.
Bloomberg Finance reported that swap prices for LNG cargoes in East Asia for the balance of February fell nearly $2.00 from $26.29/MMBtu last week to a weekly average of $24.29/MMBtu.
At the Dutch TTF, the day-ahead prices fell $1.70 to a weekly average of $25.94/MMBtu.
In the same week last year (week ending February 10, 2021), prices in East Asia and at TTF were $8.36/MMBtu and $6.79/MMBtu, respectively, EIA said.