Freeport LNG Enters Consent Agreement with PHMSA, Still Targets October for Partial Operations

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)-- Freeport LNG (Houston, Texas) said Wednesday it has entered a consent agreement with the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) related to the June 8 fire at its liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Freeport, Texas, but still thinks it can resume initial operations in early October.

"In the near term, the Consent Agreement includes certain corrective measures, many of which are currently underway, that Freeport LNG is to take to obtain PHMSA approval for an initial resumption of LNG production from its liquefaction facility," Freeport LNG said in a press release. "Freeport LNG continues to believe that it can complete the necessary corrective measures, along with the applicable repair and restoration activities, in order to resume initial operations in early October.

The initial operations are expected to include three liquefaction trains, two LNG storage tanks and one LNG loading dock, which will enable delivery of approximately 2 billion cubic feet per day of LNG, "enough to support its existing long-term customer agreements" the company said.

The 15 million-ton-per-year facility was taken offline on June 8 following an explosion and fire.

"In addition to the repair and replacement of Freeport LNG's physical infrastructure that was damaged in the incident, and as part of the corrective measures under the Consent Agreement, the company is evaluating and advancing initiatives related to training, process safety management, operations and maintenance procedure improvements, and facility inspections," Freeport LNG said.

Freeport LNG previously said it was targeting the end of this year for a return to full operations, but did not say when it planned to resume full operations in its latest press release.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in early July that U.S. LNG exports could fall about 6% in the second half of 2022 from the first half, due to the ongoing Freeport LNG outage.

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