Average US LNG export prices on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, including all costs of the LNG up to the point of export as well as commodity costs and liquefaction fees, dropped by 45 percent in December 2023 to $6.68/mmBtu from $12.19/ MMBtu a year earlier, the Department of Energy’s latest liquefied natural gas and pipelines export data shows.
Cargoes from the Calcasieu Pass liquefaction plant cost the most at $11.53/MMBtu in December last year compared with $11.29/MMBtu in the previous month of November and $27.26/MMBtu in December 2022. Second highest were prices from the Corpus Christi facility at $6.79/MMBtu in December versus $7.53/MMBtu in the previous month and $10.60 in December 2022.
Cove Point in Maryland reaped an average price of $6.75/MMBtu in December, down from $7.10 in the previous month, while Sabine Pass plant prices were fourth highest in December at $6.15/ MMBtu versus $6.56 in November.
Freeport LNG plant had a December price of $5.98/MMBtu, while cargoes from the Elba Island plan in Georgia cost $5.62/MMBtu and the Cameron LNG in Louisiana had the lowest average prices in December of $5.31/MMBtu.
Most cargoes headed to the Netherlands
The Top 10 recipients of US LNG deliveries in the January-to-December 2023 period by number of cargoes were: the Netherlands (169 cargoes), France (159), the UK (135), Japan (92), Spain (88), South Korea (82), Germany (65), Italy (60), China (59) and India (47).
The number of cargoes exported in December 2023 from each of the seven export facilities came to 43 cargoes for Sabine Pass in Louisiana, Freeport, Texas (22), Cameron, Louisiana (22), Corpus Christi, Texas (18) Calcasieu Pass, Louisiana (16), Cove Point, Maryland ((8) and Elba
Island, Georgia (6), figures from the DoE’s February 2024 report show.
Pipeline gas exports on the up
More US natural gas is also exported by pipeline: Flows to Mexico to Mexico in December increased by 10.1 percent from a year ago. The average price of the pipeline gas flows to Mexico in December came to $2.43 per MMBtu, down from $6.00 per MMBtu in December 2022 and lower than the November 2023 price of $2.48 per MMBtu, analysts noted.
In contrast, pipeline gas exports to Canada in December fell by 12.8 percent to 111.9 Bcf year-on-year, while imports from Canada came to 283.5 Bcf, resulting in 171.6 Bcf of net imports. Imports of Canadian pipeline gas cost on average $2.61/MMBtu versus $9.20 per MMBtu in December 2022 and $2.74 per MMBtu in November 2023.
