Freeport LNG Hit Again by Bad Weather

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Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Bad luck continues for the Freeport LNG export facility on the Gulf Coast of Texas, which was forced to curb operations earlier this week due to weather-related events.

Boardwalk Pipeline's (Houston, Texas) Gulf South, one of the natural gas pipelines that delivers feed gas to the Freeport, Texas, liquefaction plant, declared force majeure on Monday after a section of the artery was initially said to be struck by lightning. However, the company later said no lightning strike had occurred, but instead said the outage was caused by a "weather-related impact to downstream third-party facilities."

The outage forced Freeport LNG to take all three of its liquefaction units, or trains, offline on Monday.

Natural gas flows by Tuesday had approached normal levels.

IIR Energy data show the Freeport LNG plant was operating at about 80% of its peak, though volumes were expected to increase throughout the week. Freeport LNG has a nameplate capacity of 2.37 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Production Plant Database can click here for the plant profile.

The liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility also receives feed gas from Enbridge Incorporated's (NYSE:ENB) (Calgary, Alberta) Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO) pipeline.

A federal report showed that, of the 26 vessels that left U.S. shores laden with LNG during the seven-day period ending March 19, four left from Freeport.

Freeport LNG has experienced a steady string of issues. It closed down unexpectedly in August last year after a fire suppression system was triggered. The facility lost power after Hurricane Beryl hit Texas as a Category 1 storm in early July.

An over-pressurized pipe triggered an explosion and fire in June 2022 that hobbled Freeport for much of the year. Problems with some of the electric motors meant the plant was performing below peak capacity for much of 2023, while freezing temperatures early that year left it facing technical challenges for weeks.

The facility shut down for several weeks in April 2024 for maintenance and repairs. Cold was again behind a power outage that disrupted operations at the export facility earlier this year.

The federal government expects total LNG exports to average 14 Bcf/d this year and reach 16 Bcf/d by 2025. The market, however, is bloated, with Shell plc's (NYSE:SHEL) (London, England) saying it was ready to increase its own LNG volumes by 5% annually through the end of the decade.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).