US LNG exports rise on week as first Cove Point cargo departs

Liquefied natural gas exports from the United States have increased during the past week as the Dominion’s Cove Point facility joined Cheniere’s Sabine Pass plant with its first cargo. 

The Energy Information Administration said in its weekly natural gas report that one cargo left Cheniere’s Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana on February 28 with five more vessels with an LNG-carrying capacity of 18.5 billion cubic feet, departing from March 1 to March 7.

One vessel with LNG-carrying capacity 3.7 Bcf was loading at the terminal on Wednesday.

In addition to exports from the Sabine Pass export facility, Dominion Energy’s Cove Point plant in Maryland loaded its first commissioning cargo onto an LNG vessel, Gemmata with an LNG carrying capacity 3.0 Bcf, which departed the facility on March 1 and appears to be en route to South America.

Feedgas deliveries to the terminals averaged 3.4 billion cubic feet per day during the week, slightly below the 3.6 Bcf/d in the week prior.