Sabine Pass LNG does not expect storm issues: Update

Market: Natural gas
25/08/17

Adds information about Cameron LNG

Hurricane Harvey is not expected to impact production at the US Gulf coast Sabine Pass LNG export terminal, facility owner Cheniere Energy said today.

"While at this time we do not expect production to be affected at our Sabine Pass LNG facility, we will continue to monitor the storm, stay in close contact with local emergency officials, and respond with safety as the paramount concern," the company said. "Cheniere's gas supply and trading unit has activated its emergency protocols and will ensure that all gas flows and contractual obligations needed for production will be met."

Cheniere did not comment as to whether ship loadings might be impacted.

Sabine Pass is located in Louisiana next to the Texas border, about 300 miles (480 km) northeast of Corpus Christi, Texas, where Hurricane Harvey is expected to make landfall late tonight or early tomorrow. The Sabine Pass terminal is built to withstand sustained winds of 150 mph and gusts of 180 mph. Winds along the Texas-Louisiana border will be significantly weaker.

Cheniere evacuated construction crews the the site of an LNG export terminal it is building in Corpus Christi. The company has also closed its Houston headquarters ahead of the storm.

Freeport LNG and Cameron LNG, the two other LNG export terminals being built along the US Gulf coast, also said they evacuated construction crews and secured equipment. Freeport LNG is on Quintana island, Texas, about 70 miles southwest of Houston. Cameron LNG is near Hackberry, Louisiana, about 40 miles east of the border with Texas.

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Energy Transfer halts plans for Lake Charles LNG

Houston, 18 December (Argus) — US midstream firm Energy Transfer is suspending development of its planned 16.5mn t/yr (2.2 Bcf/d) Lake Charles LNG export terminal in Louisiana to focus on natural gas pipeline expansions, the company said today. The pivot allows the company to reallocate capital to gas pipeline projects that provide "superior risk/return profiles", Energy Transfer said. The company separately said it will increase the capacity of its planned Desert Southwest expansion of the Transwestern pipeline, allowing it to move more gas from west Texas' Permian basin to the southwestern US. The decision to scrap Lake Charles LNG follows a month of dissonance from company executives about moving forward with the facility. Energy Transfer co-chief executive Mackie McCrea told investors in early November that the company would not be able to reach a final investment decision (FID) until it sold off 80pc of equity shares in the project. But Amy Chen Davis, vice president of Lake Charles LNG, told an industry event on 10 December that the company was in talks with potential partners and would reach a final decision in early 2026. The company said earlier this year it planned an FID by the end of 2025. The midstream firm has sought for years to convert the existing Lake Charles import facility into an export terminal. Shell signed on with a 50pc stake in 2019 but pulled out the following year as part of cost-cutting measures during the Covid-19 pandemic. McCrea had signaled to investors that the company was being cautious with entering the LNG export industry. "When you're chasing billions of dollars in projects, several of which we've already announced, we've got to be careful stepping out on something like this," McCrea said on 5 November. "We're not an LNG company like we compete with. We're a pipeline company that has a regas facility converting part of it to LNG." Investor MidOcean Energy had signed a preliminary agreement to fund 30pc of Lake Charles LNG's construction costs in exchange for 30pc of offtake, but the firms never finalized the deal. Suspension of the project also may set back the efforts of Saudi Aramco, which holds a 49pc stake in MidOcean, to develop an LNG portfolio. MidOcean has a share in Peru's 4.45mn t/yr Pampa Melchorita LNG export plant and the Shell-led 14mn t/yr LNG Canada export terminal in British Columbia. Pipeline project in focus Meanwhile, Energy Transfer said it will upsize capacity on the Desert Southwest expansion. The company said it will increase the expansion's capacity by 800mn cf/d to 2.3 Bcf/d to satisfy additional demand in the southwestern US. Energy Transfer reached an FID on Desert Southwest in August. The expansion is one of several projects working to increase gas transportation capacity out of the Permian, where a steady increase in crude-driven activity — and commensurate rise in associated gas output — has outpaced the increase in gas takeaway capacity. This has created a local gas supply glut and some of the lowest gas prices in the US. By Tray Swanson Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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18/12/25

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Ithaca first to try new UK North Sea regime

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BP appoints Woodside’s O’Neill as next CEO

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LNG supply growth outstrips carrier orderbook to 2030

17/12/25

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17/12/25

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With the acceleration of scrapping of LNG carriers, the number of newbuilds is insufficient to keep pace with supply growth, writes Cerys Edwards London, 17 December (Argus) — The number of newbuild LNG carriers scheduled to deliver by 2030 will not be enough to transport the planned growth in global liquefaction capacity, particularly if the retirement of older vessels accelerates compared with recent years. But the balance in the freight market will depend heavily on the configuration of LNG trade flows over the rest of the decade. Some 234 newbuild LNG carriers are scheduled to be delivered over 2026-2030, according to data from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), with deliveries in 2026 set to be the quickest year on record. Typically, around 1½ ships are needed to transport 1mn t of new liquefaction supply to Europe, and three ships for the equivalent journey to Asia, Capital Clean Energy Carriers chief executive Jerry Kalogiratos said at the World LNG Summit in Istanbul in December. Applying this basic assumption, the 234 newbuild carriers could transport some 158mn t/yr of new liquefaction capacity were the supply to deliver solely to Europe. But the newbuilds provide scope for just 78mn t/yr of new loading demand should the vessels deliver to Asia, which Kalogiratos considers the more probable scenario, given that buyers in southeast Asia are likely to consume more LNG in the forthcoming years. "There definitely looks like there is going to be a shortage", he says. Both scenarios indicate that the present LNG carrier orderbook is not large enough to accommodate the 229mn t/yr of new export capacity scheduled to come on line by 2030, judging by the projects that have already reached a final investment decision (FID). And the LNG carrier market could tighten further if more projects reach FID. Even the roughly 80mn t/yr of additional production capacity that was sanctioned this year are "not yet covered," according to David Colson, vice president at French engineering firm GTT, which supplies nearly all of the membrane containment systems used in LNG vessel tanks. The golden age of steam coming to an end? The LNG freight market balance over the coming years will also largely depend on the number of older vessels being scrapped, which rose sharply this year. A record 14 steam turbines have been sold for scrap so far in 2025, up from eight in the whole of 2024 and an average of five over 2020-24. And the pace of scrapping is likely to accelerate over the next few years, as vessels roll off long-term charter agreements, Kalogiratos says. Steam turbine carriers are "obsolete" as their high boil-off costs and smaller cargo capacity sizes do not provide the "flexibility that the current LNG trading environment requires", he added. There are 29 operational LNG carriers that are 25 years old or older, including the 137,000m³ Puteri Nilam and same-sized Al Jasra which have in recent months idled in the strait of Malacca and Bay of Brunei, according to shiptracking data from Kpler. The oldest LNG carrier still in operation is the 128,000m³ LNG Maleo , which was built in 1989 and is controlled by Indonesia's state-owned Pertamina. As well as these vessels, there are a further 47 built in 2000-2005, including 11 idling in either Malacca or Brunei Bay. These are likely to be retired by 2030, given the average age of the vessels sold for scrap in 2025 was 26, Norwegian shipping firm Flex LNG said in its third-quarter earnings call last month. Were all 76 vessels built before 2005 scrapped by 2030, it would limit the fleet growth to a total of just 158 LNG carriers. Under the scenario outlined above this number of vessels could transport 105mn t/yr of supply to Europe and just 53mn t/yr to Asia — both far below the planned capacity buildout. The LNG carrier orderbook could still grow in the coming years however, given slots for late 2028 delivery are still available at some South Korean shipyards. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Sabine Pass LNG does not expect storm issues: Update

Related news posts

Energy Transfer halts plans for Lake Charles LNG

Energy Transfer halts plans for Lake Charles LNG

US House passes bill to expedite permitting

US House passes bill to expedite permitting

Ithaca first to try new UK North Sea regime

Ithaca first to try new UK North Sea regime

BP appoints Woodside’s O’Neill as next CEO

BP appoints Woodside’s O’Neill as next CEO

LNG supply growth outstrips carrier orderbook to 2030

LNG supply growth outstrips carrier orderbook to 2030

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