US LNG rebound boosts global exports

LNG loadings worldwide rose in July compared with a year earlier, underpinned by a rebound in US exports, but fell short of the output produced earlier this year.

Aggregate LNG exports rose to 30.9mn t of LNG, from 27.6mn t a year earlier and 29.8mn t in June, preliminary shiptracking data from oil analytics firm Vortexa indicate. Worldwide output had exceeded 33mn t in January and March, and a record high of 34mn t in December 2019, but loadings have since failed to reach similar levels.

The increase was mainly driven by stronger Atlantic basin supply, with combined loadings within the basin rising to 11.6mn t last month from 8.2mn t a year earlier and 10.7mn t in June. Loadings at US LNG export facilities reached 6.15mn t last month from 1.93mn t in July 2020, when a spate of cargo cancellations weighed heavily on US output and the third train at the 15mn t/yr Corpus Christi terminal was not in operation.

Australian production also recovered and exports rose to 7mn t in July from 5.8mn t a year earlier, when loadings from the 7.8mn t/yr Gladstone LNG export facility fell to a two-year low.

Brisker exports, largely from the US and Australia more than offset slower Qatari, Nigerian and Norwegian exports, which in total fell by around 1.5mn t from a year earlier. Norway's 4.2mn t/yr Hammerfest facility has remained off line following a fire at the facility, and is not expected to resume loadings until March next year.

Trinidadian exports also slowed considerably, with the country producing only 488,400t, down from 1.3mn t a year earlier. Faltering feedgas supplies to Trinidad's 14.8mn t/yr Atlantic LNG complex resulted in the first train at the facility being put in an "indefinite turnaround" at the start of this year.

And maintenance at the 9.6mn t/yr Sakhalin export facility in Russia's far east may have curbed the country's aggregate output, with Russian LNG production falling to 1.8mn t in July from 2.17mn t a year earlier.

Struggling Peruvian output also contributed to limit the increase in global exports last month, with the country's 4.4mn t/yr Pampa Melchorita terminal not loading any cargoes last month, after exporting 415,815t a year earlier, PeruPetro data show. Weak upstream production, coupled with faults at the export facility in recent months, may have disrupted Peru's LNG output last month.

By Ellie Holbrook

Global LNG exports mn t