Idled since June, the Freeport LNG facility in Texas is loading cargo again

Feb. 14 (UPI) -- The long-idled Freeport LNG facility in Texas loaded its first cargo since June and another vessel is waiting to load, though consultant group Rystad Energy doesn't expect a full recovery until April.

A buildup of pressure caused liquid gas to expand and boil, leading to a pipeline rupture at the facility in June. It was idled until earlier this year when it started testing its capacity.

This week, the BP-controlled vessel Kmarin Diamond loaded with LNG in Freeport's storage tanks for delivery to Egypt. The Prism Agility, operated by a South Korean firm, is on its way to pick up more cargo.

"These are long-awaited and encouraging signs that Freeport LNG restart is on track and expected to begin liquefaction and export soon," Emily McClain, a vice president at Rystad, said Tuesday.

The operators at the plant on Monday filed a federal request with regulators to put the facility back at full capacity. It has three trains -- infrastructure that cools conventional natural gas to liquid form -- and accounts for about 20% of total U.S. LNG exports when working at peak capacity.

The amount of gas sent to the facility already this week marks the highest level since the June outage, Rystad added.

LNG is a hot commodity given European efforts to rely less on natural gas delivered by pipelines from Russia. War-torn Ukraine hosts a dense network of Soviet-era pipelines, highlighting the geopolitical risk.

Freeport is close to doing the work necessary to resume full operations at two of the three trains, but Rystad said to expect only incremental increases in deliveries this month.

"We expect the plant will bring all three trains online in March, with a full ramp up by early April," McClain added.

During the seven-day period ending Feb. 8, 24 vessels laden with LNG left U.S. export facilities, carrying a combined 90 billion cubic feet of product. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, part of the Energy Department, said it expects LNG exports to increase by 11% from year-ago levels, assuming there are no future issues at Freeport.

LNG production, meanwhile, is expected to increase by 18% from 2022 levels.