LNG News Editor:
The US Department of Energy has published its latest LNG export data showing that Germany has for the first time entered the monthly list for being a top five recipient of US shipments, though most of the cargoes delivered to Germany were relatively expensive ones.
The May 2023 DoE data report just issued gives the prices, numbers and trends for March 2023.
It showed that the total number of US cargoes delivered worldwide since March 2016 now amounted to 4,579 shipments, or 14,624.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
ISO LNG
A further 1,358 ISO containers of LNG have been shipped to nations in the Caribbean and Latin America from ports in Florida and from Puerto Rico.
The seven operating US LNG export plants dispatched 121 full LNG cargoes in March 2023 versus 100 in the previous month of February and 114 shipments in March 2022.
The Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana remained the volume leader in March 2023 supplying 41 cargoes followed by the now combined Cameron export point’s 36 shipments from Louisiana. This included 24 cargoes from Cameron LNG and 12 from Calcasieu Pass.
Corpus Christi in Texas shipped 19 cargoes, Cove Point in Maryland dispatched eight cargoes and Elba Island in Georgia five.
Shipments from the Cameron export point in Louisiana cost the most for a 12th straight month through March 2023.
In the DoE data the two separately operated export plants are California-based utility Sempra's Cameron LNG and Arlington-based Venture Global's Calcasieu Pass.
Cargoes lifted from the Cameron facilities near Lake Charles cost an average of $11.65 per million British thermal units in March 2023, which was lower than the Cameron price in the previous month of February of $12.99 per MMBtu.
The Cameron export point price in September 2022 was a record US high of $19.89 per MMBtu.
The Cameron price combination has never been fully explained by the DoE and is actually viewed by many in the market as an anti-transparency measure.
The combined average March price at the export points of the other five plants, with Freeport back on stream in February, was $7.67 per MMBtu versus $9.01 per MMBtu for the previous month.
The year-to-date price in March 2023 for all of the export points combined was $11.59 per MMBtu.
The average prices for each of the five other plants (from the export point) from highest to lowest in March 2023 were: Elba Island (Georgia) $7.54 per MMBtu ($10.72 February); Cove Point (Maryland) $6.96 per MMBtu ($8.35, February); Corpus Christi in Texas $6.26 per MMBtu ($7.06 February); Freeport LNG (Texas) $6.14 per MMBtu ($8.23, February); and Sabine Pass (Louisiana) $5.86 per MMBtu ($6.72, February).
German deliveries
New LNG importer Germany received eight US cargoes in March, including three from the Calcasieu Pass plant of Venture Global and two from Sempra’s Cameron LNG – the high-priced US export point.
The Top Five countries of destination, representing 60.9 percent of total US LNG exports in March 2023, were the United Kingdom (70.5 Bcf, 21 cargoes), the Netherlands (61.0, 17 cargoes), Spain (38.1 Bcf, 12 cargoes), France (28.6 Bcf, nine cargoes) and Germany (24.5 Bcf, eight cargoes).
The list of the Top 10 countries of destination overall since 2016 through March 2023 showed two Asian nations, South Korea and Japan, leading and with Spain consolidating its third-placed position.
The UK and France have overtaken China in recent months to take fourth and fifth places respectively while the Chinese drop to sixth. Turkey has now also advanced in the US list and has overtaken India.
The top 10 recipients of US LNG by overall numbers of cargoes at the end of March 2023 were: 1) South Korea 513 cargoes; 2) Japan 380; 3) Spain 363; 4) the UK 361; 5) France 330; 6) China 296; 7) the Netherlands 260; 8) Turkey 205 9) India 195; and 10) Brazil 218 - including split cargoes.
Vessel-borne delivery prices are also given for the US territory of Puerto Rico.
Shipments to Puerto Rico in March 2023 had cost an average of $7.59 per MMBtu, down from $8.04 per MMBtu in February.
