Update: UK Imports 1st US LNG
Update: The first US LNG cargo in over 50 years, aboard Maran Gas Mystras, arrived July 8 at the UK's Isle of Grain import terminal; the ship departed the next day; our related original July 6 article is appended.
That article included an overview of where Cheniere cargoes were delivered in Sabine Pass's first year of operation.
The first US cargo to be shipped to the UK in well over 50 years is due to arrive July 8.
National Grid, operator of the Isle of Grain LNG terminal in southeast England, has confirmed that the Maran Gas Mystras is due to arrive there this Saturday; it declined to name the importer but said the cargo originated from (Cheniere-owned) Sabine Pass liquefaction complex in Louisiana.
At around midday local time July 6, the LNG carrier was offshore northern Brittany in France, entering the English Channel. The ship, which can carry 159,800 m3 of LNG and is owned by Greek shipowner Maran Gas Maritime, left Sabine Pass June 25 according to shipping sources.
The world's first ever LNG cargo was shipped in 1959 from Lake Charles, also in Louisiana, to Canvey Island in England which was decommissioned as an LNG import terminal in the 1980s. The UK did not import any LNG for over 20 years until the Isle of Grain opened in 2005. Last year the UK imported 7.5mn metric tons, a quarter less than in 2015, almost all of which came from Qatar.
In year one, most Cheniere cargoes went to Latin America
Cheniere Energy chief commercial officer Anatol Feygin told a conference in Washington DC June 26 2017 that the company’s Sabine Pass terminal had loaded more than 140 cargoes since its first loading on June 9 2016 which had been delivered to 23 countries – at that point not including UK. Most (44%) had been delivered to Latin America, with Asia receiving 28%, the Middle East and Egypt 15%, and Europe 13% (see graphic below). Sabine Pass for now is the only US LNG export facility, but others will open 2018.
With an expected surge of US exports in the coming years – and not just from Cheniere – experts believe that Europe, which has a lot of receiving capacity, will start importing from the US Gulf. US President Donald Trump is in Poland July 6 partly to promote US LNG shipments into central Europe. Hungary however said July 5 it thinks Russia can provide greater gas supply security. The EU favours diversification of gas supplies, including LNG imports to offset still pre-dominant supplies of Russian gas into central Europe. Hungary imported two-thirds of its gas from Russia last year.
Poland and Netherlands each imported their first US LNG cargo early last month from Sabine Pass.
Graphic credit: Cheniere Energy
Mark Smedley