Cheniere temporarily suspends operations at Sabine Pass LNG terminal on USGC

Houston — Cheniere Energy has decided to temporarily shut down production and evacuate staff at its Sabine Pass LNG export terminal in Louisiana as Hurricane Laura strengthened and headed for the US Gulf Coast, the company said Aug. 25.

Pilot service was suspended to inbound vessels through the channel serving Sabine Pass and to all traffic through the channel serving Cameron LNG, according to advisories that shipping services issued to customers. No LNG tankers were loading at either facility, and no tankers appeared to be heading into the area, Platts vessel-tracking software cFlow showed Aug. 25.

"After consulting with our team of weather, safety, operations and security teams, Cheniere management has decided to activate emergency plans to evacuate personnel and temporarily suspend operations at Sabine Pass as a result of the approaching hurricane," Cheniere said in an e-mailed statement.

The move meant the five-train 25.6 million mt/year capacity facility, and production there, would be temporarily shut down, a spokesman said. The company statement did not say how long the suspension would last. Cheniere's other LNG export terminal near Corpus Christi, Texas, was not forecast to be directly impacted by Laura, according to the latest forecast.

Officials at Sempra Energy's Cameron LNG south of Lake Charles, Louisiana, were holding a meeting to determine whether to activate emergency plans, a Sempra spokeswoman said.

While Tropical Storm Marco weakened to a post-tropical cyclone just off the Louisiana coast and no longer had a forecast track to make landfall, Laura strengthened into a hurricane and was expected to become a major hurricane before coming ashore late Aug. 26 or early Aug. 27 in southwest Louisiana, near where Sabine Pass and Cameron LNG are located. Heavy rain, wind and storm surge were expected.

Officials at Freeport LNG, south of Houston, secured the site. A spokeswoman declined to say whether operations there would be curtailed or suspended.

The rare one-two storm punch was expected to have little overall impact on the global LNG market, according to multiple trading sources. This was due to the pervading low rate of cargo loadings from US Gulf Coast-based facilities that have been driven by cargo cancellations throughout the summer.

Low international prices and weak demand exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic prompted a significant drop in gas deliveries to US LNG export facilities starting in April. Flows recovered in recent weeks amid a rebound in netbacks to Asia, though that reversed Aug. 25 as feedgas flows dropped ahead of Laura's landfall. Total flows were expected to drop further with the decision to temporarily shut down Sabine Pass, the biggest US liquefaction facility.