US LNG exports dip on week

Liquefied natural gas exports from the United States have decreased during the week ending Wednesday, March 14. 

Four vessels with an LNG-carrying capacity of 14.8 Bcf departed the Sabine Pass liquefaction facility from March 8 to March 14, compared to six tankers in the previous week, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows.

Two vessels with a combined LNG-carrying capacity of 7.5 Bcf were loading at the terminal on Wednesday.

Dominion Energy’s Cove Point facility, that shipped its first cargo on March 1, with a second cargo set to dock at the export plant on April 9. Shell’s Gemmata LNG carrier that lifted the first cargo is heading for to the Dragon LNG terminal in the UK after being redirected in the middle of the Atlantic from heading to South America.

A cold spell in Europe at the end of February-early March led to high natural gas consumption and a record-low level of natural gas in storage in the U.K., which was also affected by reduced storage capacity after the Rough storage facility was taken offline, EIA said.

Spot prices at the National Balancing Point (NBP) in the U.K. spiked to $31.68/MMBtu on March 1, the highest on record, and averaged $10.62/MMBtu in the first two weeks of March.

In comparison, NBP spot prices averaged $7.71/MMBtu in the winter months of 2017-18 (December through February) and $6.27/MMBtu in the winter of 2016-17.