Market Tracker - 13 March, 2023
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Freeport Restarts Final Train
After several delays, Freeport has received regulatory approval to bring all of its capacity back online. The plant restarted LNG exports in mid-February via the KMarin Diamond.Freeport LNG Development, L.P. intends to apply a conservative ramp-up profile to establish full three-train production over the coming weeks.
We are currently tracking five additional vessels waiting at the Freeport anchorage although no cargo loading was taking place at the time of writing.
Freeport LNG Development, L.P. (Freeport Development), the operator of the Freeport LNG plant, announced that it had received regulatory approvals from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to restart Train 1 on Wednesday last week.
Train 1 was the final train of the Freeport LNG plant’s three-train liquefaction facility to receive restart authorisation.
Two trains in action
The plant’s Trains 2 and 3 had returned to full commercial operation since mid-February.
Our data and calculations show the two trains exported 0.72mmt since their restart via eleven cargo loadings.
The majority of Freeport’s renewed LNG exports have gone to Europe, followed by Southeast Asia and the Far East.
As the recommissioning of Freeport’s liquefaction facility continues and trains are restarted, changes in feed gas flows and production rates are to be anticipated given the duration of the plant’s outage, Freeport Development informed in a press release.
The operator intends to apply a conservative ramp-up profile to establish full three-train production over the coming weeks.
We are currently tracking five additional vessels – the Attalos, the GasLog Wales, the LNG Endeavour, the BW Magnolia and the Prism Diversity – waiting at the Freeport anchorage.
Catalogue of requirements
The restart of LNG exports from Freeport LNG had been stymied by a catalogue of requirements issued by US regulators that had to be met before LNG exports could resume.
This had delayed the Freeport plant’s restart beyond last year’s deadline of mid-December.
Previous deadlines placing the resumption of at least some exports in September and November were also missed.
The Freeport plant was shut down following a fire incident in June last year, in connection with which the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) highlighted inadequate valve testing and alarm procedures that gave room for ‘operator discretion’ and ‘alarm fatigue’.
First restart gas
Following several delays, Freeport LNG returned to LNG exports on 13 February with the laden departure of the BP-controlled LNG carrier KMarin Diamond.
The vessel was carrying a partial load to the Map Ta Phut terminal in Thailand via the Suez Canal, according to our data. Another LNG carrier, the Prism Agility, began the process of loading a second cargo shortly after the KMarin Diamond departed.
In mid-February, Freeport Development received regulatory approval to commence commercial operations of the Freeport LNG plant. “Returning to liquefaction operations is a significant achievement for Freeport LNG,” said Michael Smith, Freeport LNG Founder, Chairman and CEO, at the time.
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