US liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports rose in the week ending March 22, while the Henry Hub spot price fell when compared to the week before, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The EIA said in its weekly natural gas report that 27 LNG carriers departed the US plants between March 16 and March 22, five shipments more when compared to the week before.
Also, the total capacity of LNG vessels carrying these cargoes is 100 Bcf, it said.
Overall natural gas deliveries to US LNG export terminals decreased by 1.3 percent (0.2 Bcf/d) week over week to 13 Bcf/d, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Natural gas deliveries to terminals in South Louisiana decreased by 3.5 percent (0.3 Bcf/d) to 8.4 Bcf/d, while deliveries to South Texas terminals increased by 4.4 percent (0.1 Bcf/d) to 3.4 Bcf/d.
The agency said that natural gas deliveries to terminals along the East Coast were essentially unchanged.
Cheniere’s Sabine Pass plant shipped ten cargoes and its Corpus Christi facility sent four shipments during the week under review.
Sempra’s Cameron LNG shipped five cargoes and the Freeport LNG plant sent four cargoes, the EIA said, citing shipping data by Bloomberg Finance.
Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG plant and the Cove Point LNG facility each shipped two cargoes, while Elba Island did not ship any cargoes during the week under review, according to the data.
Freeport LNG
Freeport LNG is currently working to reach full operations following an incident at the facility that took place on June 8 last year.
The LNG terminal operator secured regulatory approval last month to launch commercial operations of two trains at its 15 mtpa liquefaction plant in Texas as part of the restart process.
Earlier this month, Freeport LNG also won regulatory approval to restart operations of Train 1.
Natural gas pipeline deliveries to the Freeport LNG terminal averaged about 655 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) this report week, 205 MMcf/d above last week’s average and 36 percent of the terminal’s full feed gas capacity, according to Gulf South Pipeline, the main delivery pipeline to the terminal.
Henry Hub down to $2.04 per MMBtu
This report week, the Henry Hub spot price dropped 40 cents from $2.44 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday to $2.04/MMBtu this Wednesday, the agency said.
Moreover, the price of the April 2023 NYMEX contract decreased 26.8 cents, from $2.439/MMBtu last Wednesday to $2.171/MMBtu two days ago.
The price of the 12-month strip averaging April 2023 through March 2024 futures contracts declined 13.3 cents to $3.046/MMBtu, the EIA said.
TTF down
The agency said that international natural gas futures prices decreased this report week.
Bloomberg Finance reported that weekly average front-month futures prices for LNG cargoes in East Asia fell 98 cents to a weekly average of $13.24/MMBtu.
Natural gas futures for delivery at the Dutch TTF fell $1.43 to a weekly average of $13.14/MMBtu, the agency said.
In the same week last year (week ending March 23, 2022), the prices were $34.83/MMBtu in East Asia and $33.81/MMBtu at TTF, it said.