Cheniere's Sabine Pass works to resume production at US facility following storm

Houston — Cheniere Energy has begun the process to restore operations at its Sabine Pass LNG export terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, after finding no significant damage from Hurricane Laura, the company said Aug. 31.

At Sempra Energy's Cameron LNG, south of Lake Charles, minimal flooding and no "catastrophic wind damage" was discovered during an initial evaluation, the company said in a separate statement.

No timeline was given for when production would resume at either facility.

The channels that serve both facilities were still not allowing large tankers through, pending a test of deep draft conditions, according to shipping advisories to customers.

Sabine Pass shut down Aug. 25, while Cameron LNG temporarily ceased operations Aug. 26. Together, they have the capacity to produce over 40 million mt/year of LNG from eight liquefaction trains.

Laura roared ashore early Aug. 27 packing winds up to 150 mph. Feedgas flows to the six major US LNG export facilities totaled 2.76 Bcf/d Aug. 31, down less than 100 MMcf/d from Aug. 30, but up more than 100 MMcf/d from Aug. 28, S&P Global Platts Analytics data showed.

One unladen tanker, LNG Juno, was positioned in the Gulf of Mexico near the US coast Aug. 31, according to cFlow, Platts trade-flow software.