Houston — Feedgas flows to Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass LNG export terminal returned Wednesday to pre-maintenance levels as scheduled work on two of the five liquefaction trains in operation at the Louisiana facility concluded.
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Register NowThe natural gas and LNG markets closely watch Cheniere, the biggest US exporter of LNG, for shifts in utilization. It also operates an export terminal near Corpus Christi, Texas. Feedgas flows there had dropped a few weeks ago during commissioning of Train 2, but have since rebounded.
US LNG producers appear to be bringing forward their fall maintenance to capture stronger netbacks in September and October.
At Sabine Pass, Trains 3 and 4 were taken offline at the beginning of August for scheduled turnarounds as part of Cheniere's maintenance plan for the facility. Spokeswoman Jenna Palfrey said in an email responding to questions Wednesday that the work is now complete. The turnarounds on the two trains lasted about the same amount of time as scheduled maintenance on Trains 1 and 2 in late March and early April.
Cheniere is building a sixth train at Sabine Pass and a third train at the facility near Corpus Christi. A midscale liquefaction expansion is also planned at the site of the Texas facility.
Meanwhile, Freeport LNG was preparing to load its first cargo, with an unladen tanker remaining anchored offshore from the Texas facility on Wednesday.
Kinder Morgan's Elba Liquefaction terminal in Georgia also appeared to be continuing to produce LNG, although it was unclear when the first cargo from the facility would be shipped. No unladen LNG tankers appeared to be headed to the facility as of midday Wednesday, S&P Global Platts Analytics vessel tracking data show.
-- Harry Weber, Harry.Weber@spglobal.com
-- Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, newsdesk@spglobal.com