US’ Northeast Gateway LNG terminal resumes operations

The US' Northeast Gateway LNG import terminal delivered gas onshore two days ago for the first time since 2019, suggesting the facility has resumed operations.

The terminal, located offshore Boston, delivered about 29bn Btu (711,000m³) of gas into the Algonquin Gas Transmission system on 15 January, nominations indicate.

Northeast Gateway has been idle since early 2019, after the floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) serving the facility sailed away for employment elsewhere, either at other import terminals or sailing within the global carrier market. The terminal, located offshore Boston, has capacity for two FSRUs.

But the 151,000m³ Exemplar FSRU arrived back at the terminal on 29 December with a cargo loaded at Trinidad and Tobago's Point Fortin terminal earlier that month. It was unclear whether the vessel was waiting to discharge its cargo at Boston's onshore Everett terminal — which has received cargoes in recent months — or would be installed at the Northeast Gateway terminal, where shiptracking data suggested it was anchored. The FSRU and the Northeast Gateway terminal both are owned by US firm Excelerate Energy, which declined to provide comment to Argus on the vessel earlier this month. The Exemplar was also previously installed at the terminal.

No flows were nominated for 16 January, nor were there any expected for today — pending any revisions to today's schedule. But the terminal may be reserving its LNG stocks ahead of a cold snap across much of the US' northeast coast in the coming days. Overnight temperatures in Boston are forecast to fall to about 8°F (-13.3°C) on 20 January, from 24°F (-4.4°C) expected for today, according to data released by the US' National Weather Service.

By Samuel Good