The major ports along the upper Texas coast were set to reopen on Tuesday as cleanup continued in the aftermath of former Hurricane Beryl, but operations at a major LNG export facility remained shuttered.
Beryl stormed ashore as a Category 1 hurricane Monday on the upper Texas coast near Matagorda, leaving widespread destruction in its path. The hurricane killed at least seven people as of Tuesday morning, according to Harris County officials.
For the energy sector, the overall impact to natural gas prices appeared to be minimal. The New York Mercantile Exchange August contract had risen in early trading Tuesday, but fell 2.2 cents on the day to $2.344/MMBtu.
Storms that strike the Gulf Coast no longer pack a punch to the offshore oil and gas industry as they did before unconventional drilling reversed America’s fortunes by unearthing massive reserves from the Lower 48.
However, most U.S. liquefied natural gas export capacity is in Texas and Louisiana. The Freeport LNG Development LP facility, about 50 miles from Matagorda, shut down on Sunday ahead of Beryl. Feed gas demand fell to nearly zero from 1.6 Bcf/d and flows to the facility have remained below 1% capacity utilization as of Tuesday, NGI’s U.S. LNG Export Flow Tracker data show.
Unlike most LNG export projects on the Gulf Coast, Freeport relies on the electricity grid for power.
CenterPoint Energy Inc., the main power provider for the Greater Houston area, was working to restore electricity to more than one million customers, a process expected to last days. High temperatures, coupled with high humidity, were expected through the rest of the week.
“Production at Freeport LNG’s liquefaction facility remains ramped down following Hurricane Beryl,” a spokesperson reiterated Tuesday. “The safety of our personnel and the community is Freeport LNG’s top priority…We intend to resume operations when it is safe to do so.”
Corpus Christi, about 250 miles south of Freeport, escaped Beryl’s wrath. It is home to Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Corpus Christi LNG facility, which remained in operation. “The facility is secure, and LNG production continues uninterrupted,” a Cheniere spokesperson said.
Cheniere’s Sabine Pass LNG export facility on the Louisiana border near Texas had no operational disruptions from the storm.
Operations at Enbridge Inc.’s Tres Palacios Gas Storage LLC (TPGS) salt storage facility in Matagorda County resumed Tuesday. The facility has about 31.1 Bcf net of net working storage. A force majeure had been issued, but all restrictions were lifted for Gas Day Tuesday.
TPGS was allowing nominations at 40332-Permian Highway Pipeline “effective immediately.” It said it would “continue to monitor its system and surrounding area.”
Temporary outages also have impacted Kinder Morgan Inc.’s Dayton and West Clear Lake storage facilities near Houston.
A spokesperson told NGI that “West Clear Lake has returned to service, while Dayton is still down due to power outages in the area.”
According to an update early Tuesday from Moran Shipping Agencies Inc., the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) was evaluating Port Houston to ensure the Houston Ship Channel was clear for navigation. The “majority” of Houston, Galveston and Texas City surveys were set to be completed Tuesday.
The port in Freeport was scheduled to be surveyed on Wednesday. The Brazos Pilots Association in Freeport advised that the “Freeport channel looks good up to 36-foot draft…” It was awaiting USCG approval to resume operations.
