Texas’ Freeport LNG hub to restart three production trains in early August following Hurricane Beryl

(Bloomberg) – Freeport LNG, the U.S’ second-largest export facility, is targeting the restart of all production lines in early August, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The Texas plant reduced production before Hurricane Beryl made a landfall earlier this month and caused wide-spread power outages. Loadings from the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal outside of Houston were suspended for more than two weeks before restarting last weekend.

Two production trains are increasing production already. They will be followed by the third train as early as the end of next week, one of the people said. Full production is expected in August, all the people said, asking not to be identified because the information was not made public.

A Freeport LNG spokeswoman declined to comment on timing.

The company is “safely progressing” the restart of the three liquefaction trains, she said, referencing the company’s previous statements on a resumption.

The outage has been closely watched in both Asia and Europe due to its impact on regional supply and prices. Summer demand for the super-chilled fuel has been high in parts of the world, while supplies remain limited until a significant start-up of new plants from 2025 onward.

Multiple scheduled shipments have been canceled through August as a result of the outage, with the number of lost cargoes potentially as high as 17-20, one of the people said.

In a sign of the progressing restart activities, natural gas supplied to the Texas plant rose to the highest level since before the outage in early July on Thursday.

The 1.2 Bcfgd scheduled to Freeport LNG on Thursday roughly equates to almost two-thirds of what flowed on July 6, before the shutdown ahead of Hurricane Beryl.

Restarting LNG plants can be complex, and it takes time to get to full output. Separately, all three trains at Freeport LNG had to be restarted on Wednesday due to a brief power outage at the plant’s pre-treatment facility, according to a filing made to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

As of Thursday morning, the Cool Runner vessel was docked at Freeport LNG, which would be the third vessel to load since the plant’s restart began, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

S&P Global Commodity Insights reported earlier Thursday that Freeport LNG will likely resume full operations at three trains in early August.