JERA-operated carrier set to arrive at US Freeport LNG terminal: cFlow

A JERA-operated LNG carrier is set to arrive into the US Freeport LNG terminal in Texas Feb. 20, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights shipping data, with a growing number of ships now returning to load at the terminal again since it was shut due to an explosion and fire last June.

The Gaslog Wales LNG tanker is set to arrive at the Freeport terminal Feb. 20, according to Platts cFlow ship and commodity tracking software from S&P Global.

The vessel is part of the LNG carrier fleet of JERA Global Markets, the trading arm of Japan's largest power generation company JERA.

JERA has a 25.7% stake in Freeport LNG Development, the operator of the Freeport LNG project, and lifts 2.32 million mt/year from Freeport LNG.

A JERA spokesperson declined to comment Feb. 16 on the Gaslog Wales' arrival at the Freeport terminal. Another vessel, the JERA-chartered Nohshu Maru, was moored at the Freeport terminal by early afternoon local time Feb. 16, S&P Global data showed.

The expected exports on the JERA vessels follow the LNG Rosenrot leaving the Freeport LNG terminal loaded with a cargo Feb. 15, and the Feb. 14 departure of the Prism Agility LNG tanker loaded with a partial cargo, according to Platts cFlow.

The export activity came as Freeport awaited permission to resume full commercial operations, after submitting a Feb. 13 request to the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The company told FERC that its Train 3 had been fully restarted and "is ready to ramp up to full production rates," adding that it is ready to begin restarting Train 2 and expects Train 1 to follow "within the next few weeks."

The Freeport terminal, which can take more than 2 Bcf/d when operating at full rate, has shown a meaningful increase in feedgas deliveries in recent days.

The terminal was scheduled to receive more than 480 MMcf/d of feedgas Feb. 16, based on nominations for the morning cycle that could later be revised, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed. Flows to Freeport had also exceeded 400 MMcf/d during the previous three days, marking the highest volumes of daily feedgas deliveries to Freeport since the outage began.

Freeport can export about 16 to 19 LNG cargoes per month when operating normally, according to figures collected from market sources.

The tanker carrying the first shipment since the outage, the BP-chartered Kmarin Diamond, appeared to be at least partially laden when it left the Freeport facility Feb. 12, with its next destination set for Port Said. This suggested that it would be heading through the Suez Canal, S&P Global data showed.

BP and South Korea's SK Group are among Freeport's long-term offtakers. Freeport also has offtake commitments with Japanese utilities JERA and Osaka Gas, and TotalEnergies, based in France.