Hurricane Harvey did not damage the Corpus Christi LNG export terminal under construction in Texas despite making landfall nearby, facility owner Cheniere Energy said today.
Cheniere said it has maintained production at its Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana, along the border with Texas, throughout the storm
Gas intake at the facility has increased to an average of 2.1 Bcf/d (59.6mn cu m/d) since the hurricane made landfall on 25 August, compared with an average of 1.8 Bcf/d the prior week, according to pipeline nominations. That indicates that three liquefaction trains are each operating at peak capacity rather than baseload capacity.
Cheniere said early assessments "showed only minor cosmetic impacts" at the Corpus Christi facility. Workers were evacuated from the site before landfall.
Harvey made landfall some 30 miles (48km) east of Corpus Christi as a category 4 storm winds of 130 mph. Cheniere's Gulf coast terminals are built to withstand sustained winds of 150 mph and gusts of 180 mph.
Cheniere is building two liquefaction trains at the $11bn Corpus Christi facility, each with peak capacity of 5mn t/yr, equivalent to 694mn cf/d (19.6mn cu m/d) of gas, and baseload capacity equivalent to 4.5mn cf/d of gas. The project is about 70pc complete, with the first liquefaction train scheduled to come on line in the first half of 2019 and the second in the second half of 2019.
Cheniere has completed building four liquefaction trains at Sabine Pass and the fifth is scheduled to come on line in 2019. The facility started exporting in 2016 and is the only major operating LNG export terminal in the contiguous US.
Only essential personnel remained at Sabine Pass throughout the storm to maintain production, Cheniere told Argus. Employees from the gas supply and scheduling teams were relocated to Cheniere's emergency office in Dallas.
Other LNG export facilities under construction are scheduled to come online from late this year through 2019.
Two other terminals are being built along the US Gulf coast. The Cameron LNG facility near Hackberry, Louisiana, did not sustain damage, based on initial inspections, Cameron LNG told Argus. A limited crew is at the site working on dewatering and ensuring drainage systems are functioning properly.
The Freeport LNG export project in Texas, about 70 miles southwest of Houston, said it sustained only minor water damage at the construction site. Workers are trying to restore electricity at the existing Freeport LNG import terminal, which is mostly inactive because of the US shale gas boom.
