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(Montel) A storm in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to strengthen into a hurricane and knock out much of the U.S. LNG capacity by midweek, potentially affecting exports from Europe’s largest supplier of the fuel ahead of winter, according to forecasts on Monday.
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The latest warning, issued today by the National Hurricane Center (NHC), predicts that the tropical cyclone will move along the Texas coast tomorrow and make landfall in neighboring Louisiana as a Category 1 hurricane on Wednesday.
Most of the US LNG export capacity is located in the path of the storm, including the Freeport (20 bcm/yr), Corpus Christi (19 bcm/yr), Sabine Pass (37 bcm/yr), Calcasieu Pass (14 bcm/yr) and Cameron (18 bcm/yr) plants.
LNG has become Europe’s biggest source of gas since the war between Ukraine and Russia, with 45% of this year’s supply coming from the US.
“While it is too early to determine the exact location and magnitude of impacts, the potential for dangerous storm surge and damaging winds is increasing along portions of coastal Louisiana and upper Texas beginning Tuesday night,” the NHC said.
Freeport was shut down in July for three weeks after Hurricane Beryl, a Category 1 storm, damaged the plant. In 2021, Hurricane Nicholas briefly put all three of its trains out of service.
In 2020, Cameron’s operations were halted for nearly two months in the wake of Hurricane Laura.
