Freeport LNG takes one of three trains offline for maintenance: spokeswoman

One of Freeport LNG's three liquefaction trains was shut for maintenance Aug. 31, temporarily cutting feedgas demand at the Texas facility to the lowest level in 2 ½ months.

The work was expected to last three days, spokeswoman Heather Browne said in an e-mail responding to questions.

She declined to specify which train was shut down or whether the maintenance was planned or unplanned, although she said it was unrelated to an Aug. 27 trip that, according to a state air emissions notice, took Train 1 offline for about five hours.

Based on nominations for the morning cycle, feedgas deliveries to the terminal south of Houston fell to 1.5 Bcf/d Aug. 31, from about 2 Bcf/d the previous day, S&P Global Platts Analytics data show. The most recent level was the lowest since June 14.

Freeport LNG is the only liquefaction terminal in the US and one of only a few in the world that uses exclusively electric motors instead of natural gas turbines to drive the liquefaction compressors.

The earlier shutdown of Train 1 was because of a trip of the variable frequency drive on the low pressure mixed refrigerant compressor, according to a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality notice. That resulted in unavoidable venting from Train 1 to the liquefaction flare.

"After resolution of the cause of the trip, the plant operators managed the restart of the compressor and the Liquefaction Train 1 as efficiently as possible to minimize flaring," the notice said.

Total feedgas deliveries to major US LNG export terminals registered 10.3 Bcf/d Aug. 31. That was up slightly from the day before, as a rise in feedgas deliveries to Cheniere's Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana more than offset the drop in demand at Freeport LNG, Platts Analytics data show.

Since the beginning of the year, global LNG demand, especially in Asia, has caused prices for deliveries to end-user markets to surge, providing an incentive for the high utilization of US liquefaction terminals.

The core drivers of demand in Asia are still strongly apparent, with Chinese, South Korean, and now Indian demand continuing to draw spot supplies into the region, Platts Analytics data show. Warmer-than-normal weather across the region has helped to keep downstream demand in the region elevated, pushing storage procurement plans further down the line before heading into the winter.

Platts Analytics expects that it will likely take a period of mild temperatures during the winter months to have a material impact on spot prices.