Lightning Strike Disrupts Gas Supply to Freeport LNG

Gulf South Pipeline Company has suspended gas deliveries to Freeport LNG after a lightning strike that damaged its pipeline, Reuters reported today, citing the company. There was no announcement regarding the news on Gulf South Pipeline Company’s website at the time of writing.

Per the Reuters report, the lightning strike prompted Gulf South Pipeline Company to declare force majeure on the pipeline, cutting supply to Freeport LNG to some 450 million cu ft daily. This compares to an expected daily volume of 1.8 billion cu ftaccording to LSEG data cited by Reuters.

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Freeport LNG has the capacity to process 2.4 billion cu ft daily of natural gas, with a minimum of 700 million cu ft daily per liquefaction train if it is to operate at full capacity, Reuters noted in its report.

Freeeport LNG is no stranger to adversity. In 2022, the facility was damaged in a fire that shut it down for an extended period of time just when LNG imports from the United States were beginning to gain popularity in Europe. Before the fire, Freeport was exporting a fifth of all U.S. shipments of liquefied gas to Europe. The plant remained partially offline until March 2023.Last year, Freeport LNG was shut down for almost a month in July ahead of Hurricane Beryl and after it.

Since the export facility became first operational, Freeport LNG’s exports have been crucial for the market observers watching global LNG availability because of the capacity of the facility, which makes it the third-largest producer of the superchilled fuel.

LNG continues to enjoy strong demand and a strongly positive outlook. The latest sign of that came from Shell, whose CEO Wael Sawan noted LNG as a key growth driver for the company. The world’s top LNG trader expects global LNG consumption to soar by 60% by 2040.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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