LNG feedgas was on track to fall to 9.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) on Thursday, according to Refinitiv data, its lowest since Feb. 26 when US exports were recovering after several Gulf Coast LNG plants shut due to a shortage of gas and power during the Texas freeze in mid February.
Buyers around the world continue to purchase record amounts of US gas because prices in Europe and Asia remain high enough to cover the cost of buying and transporting the fuel across the ocean.
The giant ship ran aground on Tuesday. The Suez Canal stepped up efforts on Friday to free the ship and end a blockage on the main route for European imports of LNG from the Middle East and for some cargoes heading to Asia from the Mediterranean.
There are now six LNG vessels waiting to enter the canal, with four of them at the southern Red Sea end and two in the Mediterranean, according to data intelligence firm Kpler. A seventh ship is already in the canal, the data showed.
The rebound in US LNG is...supported by falling freight rates in the Atlantic Basin, which dizzyingly fell from $322,000 per day two months (ago) to just $21,000 per day.
On a daily basis, US LNG feedgas was on track to reach 11.4 bcfd on Friday, which would top the 11.3-bcfd record in mid-December, according to preliminary data from Refinitiv.
A cold snap in Europe and Asia in January and in North America last month increased heating demand, prompting prices to jump in several markets, while inventories fell.
You need to replenish stocks because of the cold northern hemisphere winter in both Asia and in Europe. So, we think this is going to add to tonne miles.
Carbon neutral LNG typically involves companies supporting nature-based projects that reduce emissions to offset those generated from the exploration and production of LNG.
I hope that in the nearest future we will supply our first fully carbon-neutral cargo of LNG to Europe.
Prices were also supported as US pipeline gas exports to Mexico rose to 5.1 bcf on Friday after dropping to a 13-month low of 3.8 bcf per day on Tuesday, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
Even though we will see some warmer temperatures... there's still expectations that the loss in production is going to haunt us as we get into summer.
"We cannot reply on one single fuel for power generation," Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said in a news conference.
It was not immediately clear if the gap between alternative supply and demand would be covered by gas imports from the United States and other sources, or would lead to shortages.
At least one LNG cargo bound for Mexico's Altamira port was setting sail on Wednesday from the Freeport terminal in Texas. Mexico also regularly imports US natural gas from other states, including California, and LNG from other countries.