US LNG exports rebounded in August on higher production from Freeport LNG by Reuters

By Curtis Williams

HOUSTON (Reuters) – U.S. liquefied petroleum gas exports rose in August as output at the country’s second-largest export facility increased following an outage and maintenance work at other plants was halted, preliminary data showed on Tuesday of the financial company LSEG.

Exports of supercooled gas rose to 7.48 million metric tonnes (MT) in August from 6.69 tonnes in July, which marked the second-lowest monthly export of the year, LSEG data showed.

Last year, the US was the largest exporter of LNG in the world.

In August, Freeport LNG operated above rated capacity at times as it began to benefit from its unblocking work to add output beyond the plant’s 15.3 MTPA capacity following an outage in July.

The company’s Texas operations were offline for a period last month after a shutdown ahead of Hurricane Beryl, which hit the Texas coast near Freeport as a Category 1 hurricane on July 8. The plant was shut down for eight days and resumed operations in stages.

US LNG producers continued to favor exports to Asia. A heat wave has driven up LNG prices in Asia, while a well-supplied Europe has put downward pressure on mainland prices, Masanori Odaka, senior analyst at Rystad Energy, said last month.

In August, 3.19 MT, or just under 43%, was delivered to Asia, a similar percentage but a slightly higher volume compared to the 2.9 MT delivered in July, LSEG ship tracking data showed.

Europe remained the second-favored destination for US exports, with 2.92 MT, or 39%, sold to the continent, surpassing the 36% supplied to the continent in July.

Egypt, which continues to face a hot summer, imported 0.7 tonnes from the US and Jordan imported 0.08 tonnes of the supercooled gas in August, LSEG data showed.

LNG sales to Latin America were 1.08 MT, or just over 14%. The share was higher than the 11% sold in the region in July, LSEG data showed.

There were two cargoes that were taken out for orders with a total volume of 0.14 MT, vessel tracking data showed.

In August, Venture Global LNG’s 20 MTPA Plaquemines LNG facility signaled that it was close to starting LNG imports to cool its facility.

When the Louisiana plant is fully operational, it will become the second largest US export facility and further cement the US as the world’s largest exporter of supercooled gas.