LNG in World Markets: North American LNG Developers Juggle Plant Startups Amid Busy Hurricane Season

This current feature was extracted from the latest edition of Poten’s LNG in World Markets, a monthly service published on October 15, 2024. Three tropical weather events affected six US LNG export projects under construction. North American LNG developers are seeking to begin production this year at two export projects with a combined capacity of 23.3 MMt/y amid a busy hurricane season that briefly halted some construction and port traffic in the Gulf of Mexico. Four more projects with a combined capacity of50.5 MMt/y also saw some disruption. They comprise the now-operational Altamira Fast LNG which was undergoing commissioning at the time, and Port Arthur Phase 1, Rio Grande LNG Phase 1 and Golden Pass LNG, which are being built. The 13.3-MMt/y Phase 1 of Venture Global LNG’s Plaquemines export project is expected to become the eighth US LNG export project to start production. However, construction and commissioning activities were temporarily halted by the Sep. 11 landfall of Hurricane Francine in nearby Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. Plaquemines completed offloading an LNG import car goon Sep. 23 that was being used in are verse cooldown of the plant’s storage tanks and related equipment, meaning that the plant’s production and the first export cargo could take place in late October. Construction at Cheniere Energy’s10-MMt/y expansion project Corpus Christi Stage 3 is now 65.9% complete and production had been expected to begin in late September or early October. The facility dodged direct hits by tropical weather but was affected by rain while traffic at the Port of Corpus Christi was briefly halted by Tropical Storm Alberto in June and again by Hurricane Beryl in July.

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