Freeport LNG Nears the End of Expansion Project

U.S. liquefied natural gas developer Freeport LNG expects to increase production beyond its 15.3 million metric ton per annum (MTPA) capacity as it wraps up an expansion project.

Freeport LNG operates the second-largest U.S. processing plant and its ups and downs have led to gas-price swings in the U.S. and Europe.

"We have safely completed the vast majority of the work related to our debottlenecking project and are working to implement the benefits of those efforts," a Freeport spokesperson told Reuters on Friday.

The spokesperson did not say what the capacity would be when the debottlenecking is complete. In the past Freeport's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Smith said the debottlenecking will increase Freeport's export capacity to 16.5 MTPA.

Feedgas flows to Freeport on Friday were on track to reach a record 2.3 bcfd, up from 2.1 bcfd on Thursday and an average of 1.9 over the prior seven days, LSEG data showed.

Prior to its debottlenecking Freeport pulled at peak close to 2.2 bcfd, according to LSEG data.

On July 7 Freeport shut its plant in anticipation of the passage of Hurricane Beryl, the plant remained down for eight days and then resumed operations on a phased basis, having suffered damage to its fin fan air coolers due to the storm.

The company said that all three of its LNG liquefaction trains have now been safely restarted and it is in the process of returning to normal production rates.

The U.S. last month exported 6.69 million metric tons (MT) of LNG, compared to 7.11 million MT in June and 7.60 MT in May, preliminary data from LSEG showed.

July's 6.69 MT marked the second lowest monthly volume for the year, above only April's 6.19 million MT, which reflected mechanical problems at Freeport LNG.

Freeport's reign as the U.S. second largest LNG facility could end later this year as Venture Global's 20 MTPA Plaquemines export facility in Louisiana is expected to begin operations.

(Reporting by Curtis Williams, Anushree Mukherjee, and Rahul Paswan; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and David Gregorio)