US to Cut Gas Exports in July by 150,000 Tonnes Due to Accident at LNG Plant, Consultancy Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United States may reduce the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe by 150,000 tonnes in July following the accident at the Texas-based Freeport LNG plant, an energy expert at the Russian company Vygon Consulting, Ivan Timonin, told Sputnik on Saturday.

Freeport LNG, the operator of one of the largest US LNG plants, announced that it would be closed after the explosion and fire occurred on June 8 at the plant for at least three months, while a full restoration of work is not expected until the end of the year. The US energy ministry said in July that the closure of the plant would reduce the country's LNG export capacity by about 2 billion cubic feet per day or about 17% of total capacity. The ministry lowered its export forecast for the second half of the year to an average of 10.5 billion cubic feet per day, a decrease of 14% compared to the June forecast.

"In total, in the first half of 2022, 65 million tonnes of LNG were sent to Europe, of which 9 million tonnes - in June. Some decrease - within 150,000 tonnes - can be expected in July due to the disposal of the Freeport plant, which managed to send to Europe comparable volumes for the first half of last month," Timonin said.

Timonin added that in the first half of 2022, Europe was the priority market for the US as about 70% of all LNG produced in the US was sent to the region. In comparison, the amount of exported LNG for the same period last year was 33%, Timonin said.