The 15mn t/yr Cameron LNG in Hackberry, Louisiana in the US suffered no damage from Hurricane Delta, allowing production to begin from 11 October.
Production resumed following assessments by its disaster assessment recovery team early on 10 October that it was "safe to restart" the following day, the firm said. Cameron LNG is working towards achieving full production, having shut down on 8 October ahead of Hurricane Delta's landfall the following day in Louisiana.
The firm did not comment further on restart operations or provide a timeline for when it expects to achieve full production.
Term customers said yesterday that production had restarted on 11 October at the plant's No.2 production train, with production restarts for the No.1 and No.3 trains expected around 13-14 October and 21 October respectively.
The plant's production restart weighed on Asian LNG prices yesterday, with market participants anticipating that cargoes from Cameron LNG will swell the available supply pool for December deliveries to Asia.
The ANEA price, the Argus assessment for northeast Asian spot deliveries, eased by 4¢/mn Btu and 4.5¢/mn Btu to $5.56/mn Btu for first-half December and $5.66/mn Btu for second-half December respectively yesterday.
The plant received 290mn ft³ (8.2mn m³/d) of gas on 11 October after two days of no feedstock gas deliveries over 9-10 October. Feedstock gas deliveries to the plant were 580mn ft³ yesterday, slightly above the highest daily feedstock gas flow of 547mn ft³ on 7 October since the plant's earlier shutdown on 26 August. The flow levels are based on pipeline nominations.
Cameron LNG had shut operations on 26 August to prepare for the impact from the category 4 Hurricane Laura that battered southwest Louisiana on 27 August. It shipped its first cargo on 5 October and restarted production the following day after partial power was restored to the plant before shutting down again on 8 October to prepare for the potential impact from Hurricane Delta.
Cameron LNG is working with the Port of Lake Charles to assess the condition of the Calcasieu ship channel and accessibility to the plant's jetties. Access to the Calcasieu waterway remains closed to LNG tankers. The US Coast Guard in a notice yesterday said that access to the Calcasieu waterway is open only to vessels with draughts of 25 feet (7.6m) and below. It had allowed vessels with a draught of 40ft and a beam height below 106ft access to the waterway on 6 October.
The 180,000m³ SK Audace LNG tanker's draught was 9.5m on 4 October before it loaded Cameron's first cargo following the 26 August shutdown. Its draught rose to 10.9m when fully laden on 5 October, according to vessel tracking data.
Term offtakers suggest that a delay in restoring waterway access to LNG tankers is a key issue facing the terminal's return to full operations, with it potentially pushing back timings for loadings at the terminal. There are three LNG tankers are scheduled for arrival at Cameron over the next nine days. The 161,870m³ Adam LNG is the next scheduled vessel to arrive at the terminal tomorrow, vessel tracking data shows.
