Familiar Pattern: Freeport LNG Delays Restart Again, to End Jan.
The Freeport LNG export terminal, located in Quintana Island, Texas, has been offline and not producing LNG since June 2022 due to an explosion (see Explosion Rocks Freeport LNG Export Plant – Offline for 3 Weeks). Freeport has changed its estimated restart date multiple times. In early December, Freeport swore up and down that it would begin to return to service by the end of 2022 (see Freeport LNG Changes Restart Date from Mid- to End-December). Yeah, well, that didn’t happen. Two days before Christmas, when everyone was getting ready to head out the door for the holiday, Freeport dropped another announcement…
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It’s that time of year. Typically at the end of a year, or the very beginning of a new year, publications will pontificate on what they predict will happen in the coming 12 months. We’ve seen a number of such articles about the energy space, including some predictions targeted specifically for the Marcellus/Utica. We’ve selected three such articles to share with you–all of them from authors and publications we highly respect.
The Freeport LNG export terminal, located in Quintana Island, Texas, has been offline and not producing LNG since early June due to an explosion (see
The Freeport LNG export facility maintains it will restart accepting feedgas by the end of December. Following a request by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to Freeport to respond to a list of 64 questions, we wonder if the plant will make that deadline. We’ve lost track of how many times Freeport, which has been offline since early June following an explosion in the plant, has changed the restart date. Last week the company said the final final final final restart would happen by the end of December (see
The front-month NYMEX futures contract (based on the price of gas trading at the Henry Hub) dropped like a rock yesterday–down 70 cents (-12.6%) to $5.58/MMBtu. The price has dropped for the past four trading days in a row. Some say it’s free fallin’. In total, the price has lost $1.66 (-22.9%) over the last four sessions. NYMEX trading during the day yesterday hit its lowest point since March of this year. Why? Mainly a warm short-term weather forecast, coupled with the continuing outage at the Freeport LNG export facility.
Three weeks ago, Freeport LNG, which has been out of commission since early June, changed the target date it would restart from November to mid-December (see 



MDN previously reported that in October, Joe Nolan, the CEO of New England’s largest utility company, Eversource, sent a letter to President Biden urging him to assemble a panel and figure out how to ensure natgas flows to New England (via LNG) this winter–because if it doesn’t, this IS the year rolling blackouts become reality (see
The country of Japan is perenially either the #1 or #2 top LNG importer in the world. The country has virtually no domestic supplies of oil and gas and, therefore, must import what it uses. It’s no secret that Japan and its traders are some of the best in the world. So when Japan says supplies of LNG are getting tighter and that “Procurement [of LNG] can also be said to be in a state of war,” that’s alarming. And sobering. Japan says not enough money is being invested in LNG export projects, and although this year most countries can muddle through, beginning next year, it’s going to be a problem.
In March of this year, the three Democrats who occupy and control the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sent a loud and clear signal they don’t like the Commonwealth LNG plan to erect a new LNG export plant in Cameron Parish, La. due to concerns over so-called environmental justice (see 
