Natgas flows to Freeport LNG export plant jump, Refinitiv data shows
Feb 13 (Reuters) - The natural gas flowing from pipelines to Freeport LNG's long-idled export plant in Texas was on track to jump on Monday to its highest amount since the facility shut in a fire in June 2022, evidence that the plant has started liquefying gas again.
But Freeport, the second-biggest U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant, will likely not return to full capacity for months, according to federal energy regulators and analysts.
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Gas flows were on track to reach 0.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) on Monday, according to data provider Refinitiv, up from an average of 43 million cubic feet per day since federal regulators approved Freeport's plan to start cooling parts of the plant on Jan. 26.
That is still only a fraction of the 2.1 bcfd of gas Freeport can turn into LNG when operating at full power. One billion cubic feet of gas is enough to supply about 5 million U.S. homes for a day.
The increase in feedgas flows to Freeport boosted the total amount of gas going to all seven of the big U.S. LNG export plants to 13.3 bcfd, the highest level since May 2022 - before Freeport's Texas facility shut.
That helped push gas futures up about 2% early on Monday to around $2.57 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). Gas futures fell to a 25-month low of $2.34 earlier this month as mild weather kept heating demand mostly low this winter.
On Saturday, Texas residents grilled U.S. energy regulators over their supervision of Freeport and other LNG plants.
Bryan Lethcoe, a regional director at the U.S. Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), said it would take "a number of months" for Freeport to return to full operation. That is similar to the "mid-March or later" timeframe many energy analysts have projected for Freeport's full return.
Officials at Freeport had no comment.
A couple of Freeport's customers - Japan's JERA and Osaka Gas - have said they do not expect to get LNG from the plant until after March. Freeport's other big buyers include units of BP PLC, TotalEnergies and SK E&S.
On Friday, BP's Kmarin Diamond was the first vessel to pick up LNG at Freeport since the plant shut.
The tanker, which has already left the facility and is on its way to the Suez Canal in Egypt, picked up LNG to create space in Freeport's storage tanks for new LNG expected to be produced.
There is already another vessel at the plant - Prism Agility - operated by South Korea's SK E&S, according to Refinitiv and other ship tracking data.
(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Toby Chopra, Chizu Nomiyama and Paul Simao)