An unexpected outage at Freeport LNG this week (6 May) has once again thrown a spotlight on the expanded role of US export plants in stabilising international LNG markets.
The three-train site, the second largest in the US and seventh largest globally, shut down in less than 10 minutes, putting LNG back into the market to depress US prices and push up European prices for the prospects of less supply.
BTU Analytics confirmed natural gas deliveries to the LNG facility had dropped to about 0.35 bcf/day on Tuesday, though flows have since increased to nearly 2 Bcf/day, which is typical.
Freeport is critically important to US and European energy markets due to its large export capacity, meaning even a short disruption can cause major disruption.
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