Total daily natural gas flows to U.S. LNG export plants spiked in September, even as the Sempra Energy-led Cameron LNG terminal worked to fix a compressor problem and Dominion Energy Inc.'s Cove Point LNG facility started scheduled maintenance late in the month.
Average daily gas flows in September to the four major U.S. LNG terminals that are shipping commercial cargoes amounted to nearly 5.02 Bcf/d, up from nearly 4.36 Bcf/d in August, according to pipeline flow data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The dip in August largely stemmed from Cheniere Energy Inc.'s Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana, where the exporter took trains 3 and 4 offline for scheduled maintenance. Total flows to the terminal had oscillated through Aug. 18 before climbing back to pre-maintenance levels.
In September, daily flows to Sabine Pass averaged about 2.61 Bcf/d and peaked at about 3.04 Bcf/d on Sept. 26.
At Cheniere's Corpus Christi LNG terminal in Texas, daily flows in September averaged about 1.51 Bcf/d. The flows climbed to that level ahead of the facility receiving permission from federal regulators in late August to start commercial operations on its second liquefaction train.

The problem at Cameron LNG was an electrical issue that affected output after the first train started commercial service Aug. 19. The glitch means the train will likely remain at 65% to 70% of its operational capacity until November, executives for the terminal's joint venture partners Sempra and Total SA said in recent interviews. But the executives said the glitch did not prevent the facility from meeting its contracts and lifting schedules, and the first train continued to produce cargoes on schedule.
Flows at Cameron LNG that reached about 614 MMcf/d during the last three days of August fell to as low as about 14.6 MMcf/d on Sept. 4. But the flows climbed back to about 462 MMcf/d a week later and ended September at about 540 MMcf/d. Cameron LNG is expected to be able to export 12 million tonnes per annum of LNG, or about 1.7 Bcf/d, when all three trains are online in 2020.
At Dominion's Cove Point LNG plant in Maryland, September flows did not drop off significantly until Sept. 20, the day annual maintenance on the facility's single train was announced in a notice on Cove Point LNG's informational postings website.
A Dominion spokesperson declined to discuss the duration of the maintenance outage. But it lined up with scheduled maintenance in 2018, which lasted about three weeks before feedgas deliveries ramped back up. The Cove Point LNG train is capable of producing 5.25 mtpa of LNG, or roughly 0.8 Bcf/d.
Despite the temporary dropoffs, flows of gas destined for overseas markets are expected to keep rising through the end of the year. On Sept. 30, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized Kinder Morgan Inc.'s Elba Island LNG export terminal in Georgia to enter commercial service, even though it remains unclear exactly when the facility will move its first LNG cargo.
In Texas, Freeport LNG Development LP's export terminal is already shipping commissioning cargoes from its first train in anticipation of starting commercial operations in the coming weeks.
