US offshore output, LNG terminal utilization steady as storms move through Gulf – S&P Global

Highlights

Tankers in path of Fred, Grace could see delays

Chevron moves some workers from platforms

Back-to-back storms passing through the Gulf of Mexico could delay LNG tankers reaching US terminals for loading, though there was no immediate major threat to offshore oil and gas production Aug. 16, according to operators and notices to shippers.

Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience.

As of early afternoon, Fred was a tropical storm preparing to make landfall in the Florida Panhandle and Grace was a tropical depression, with a forecast to strengthen into a tropical storm and a track that was expected to take it west to the Mexican coast. Texas' southernmost points were in Grace's projected cone of impact.

Meanwhile, there were seven LNG tankers in the Gulf near the projected path of at least one of the two storms; one tanker was departing Freeport LNG in Texas, while at Sempra's Cameron LNG in Louisiana and Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass in Louisiana and Corpus Christi Liquefaction in Texas there were no tankers in port, according to cFlow, S&P Global Platts' vessel-tracking software tool.

US LNG feedgas demand was down about 100 MMcf/d at 10.9 Bcf/d on Aug. 16 compared with the day before, based on nominations for the morning cycle, Platts Analytics data showed. The storms were passing through at a time when strong LNG prices in Asia have been incentivizing near full utilization of US liquefaction terminals. Onshore operations at the four terminals along the Gulf did not appear to be impacted by either storm.

Offshore producers were monitoring the tracks of both storms, though none of the majors reported any shut-ins of output Aug. 16.

BP said Fred no longer posed a threat to its operations, while it was monitoring Grace. Shell said there were no changes to its operations as it continued to monitor both storms.

Chevron said that non-essential personnel were moved from its Petronius and Blind Faith facilities offshore Louisiana. Otherwise, "production from our Chevron-operated assets remains at normal levels," the major said in a statement, adding it would continue to "closely" monitor the dual storm systems.

Petronius, located in about 1,750 feet of water, is in the Viosca Knoll area of the Gulf, about 130 miles southeast of New Orleans. It was discovered in 1995. Blind Faith is located further south, in the Mississippi Canyon region of the Gulf, in about 7,000 feet of water.

Since the Atlantic hurricane season began in June, the impact on offshore US energy operations along the Gulf Coast has so far been relatively muted, versus last year when the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement listed six named storms that caused shut-ins of oil and gas production.

Chevron temporarily shut-in production June 18 from two offshore Gulf oil and gas platforms and evacuated some staff ahead of a weather system that eventually strengthened into Tropical Storm Claudette and made landfall in southeastern Louisiana.

More:

US offshore output, LNG terminal utilization steady as storms move through Gulf - S&P Global