Accidents

The Freeport LNG export facility, located in Quintana Island, Texas, has been offline since June due to an explosion and fire. Liquefying just over 2 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of natural gas, including some Marcellus/Utica gas, Freeport is the second largest LNG exporter in the country. Three weeks ago, Freeport announced the plant would be mostly back online and producing 2 Bcf/d sometime in October (see Freeport LNG Signs Agreement w/PHMSA to Restart 2 Bcf/d in October). Yesterday the company backtracked and said no, it would now be November, not October, before the plant returns to near-full operation.
Read More “Freeport LNG Restart Timeline Slips from October to November”

The second-largest LNG export terminal in the U.S., Freeport LNG, located near Galveston, Texas, experienced an explosion and fire in early June (see Explosion Rocks Freeport LNG Export Plant – Offline for 3 Weeks). Thankfully nobody was injured, and it did not take long to extinguish the fire. The incident took the plant offline for “at least three weeks,” which later turned into months (at least until October). Freeport was quick to declare the incident a force majeure or unforeseeable act of God, which takes the facility and the buyers of its LNG off the hook for legally-binding contracts to deliver LNG. But what’s this? Freeport has, according to Reuters, retracted or rescinded its declaration of force majeure.
Read More “Freeport LNG Creates Confusion by Retracting Force Majeure”

The second-largest LNG export terminal in the U.S., Freeport LNG located near Galveston, Texas, experienced an explosion and fire in early June (see Explosion Rocks Freeport LNG Export Plant – Offline for 3 Weeks). A week later, officials announced the facility would likely not return to partial service until September (see NYMEX NatGas Down 20% in Single Day on Freeport LNG Bad News). The target date has changed again. Freeport officials now say the plant won’t be back online for partial service until at least October.
Read More “Freeport LNG Says 2 Bcf/d Export Plant Offline Until October”

Last week MDN told you about the June 8th explosion and fire at Freeport LNG located near Galveston, the second-largest LNG export terminal in the U.S. (see Explosion Rocks Freeport LNG Export Plant – Offline for 3 Weeks). The managers of the plant said it would be offline for “at least three weeks.” Many are already theorizing it will be offline longer, given the alphabet soup of government agencies now investigating. So what happened? Why was there an explosion and fire? And how much longer might it really be offline?
Read More “What Happened at Freeport LNG? How Soon Will it be Online Again?”

The second-largest LNG export terminal in the U.S., Freeport LNG located near Galveston, Texas, experienced an explosion and fire yesterday. Thankfully nobody was injured and it did not take long to extinguish the fire (see video below). However, the incident has, according to Freeport officials, taken the plant offline for “at least three weeks.” Freeport liquefies and exports approximately 2 Bcf (billion cubic feet) each and every day. In May the U.S. liquefied and exported 11.6 Bcf/d, ergo the Freeport outage takes ~17% of our exports offline. That news sent the Henry Hub NYMEX futures price plunging by 59 cents. At least one, possibly more Marcellus/Utica drillers sell molecules to the Freeport facility.
Read More “Explosion Rocks Freeport LNG Export Plant – Offline for 3 Weeks”