Freeport LNG restarts after Hurricane Beryl shutdown

Freeport LNG has loaded two large LNG carriers in recent days following a halt in operations that came just before Hurricane Beryl made landfall on 8 July 2024.

The US’ second-largest LNG export facility shut down on 7 July, as the hurricane veered toward the Texas coast near Houston where Freeport LNG is located.

Hurricane Beryl, the earliest storm on record to reach a category 5 designation, the strongest category for Atlantic hurricanes, hit Texas with 130 km/hour winds as a category 1 storm, damaging infrastructure and knocking out electricity for some 2M Texas residents. 

Freeport LNG reported wind damage at its facility due to the storm, forcing the LNG loading facility to pre-emptively cancel as many as 10 cargoes, according to Bloomberg news reports.

Now, with the channel to the facility navigable, and as part of a reported phased reduction of operations as it completes repairs, Freeport has resumed loading. Vessel valuation and data provider VesselsValue recorded a stoppage for ship loading at the export facility from 5-19 July, with one vessel loading on 20 July and another on 21 July.

Capital Product Partners’ 174,000-m³ LNG carrier Axios II loaded the initial cargo, and GasLog’s 180,000-m³ LNG carrier GasLog Wales loaded the second cargo, according to VesselsValue.

AIS data from VesselsValue shows at least five large LNG carriers in the vicinity of the export facility.

Freeport suffered an outage in June 2022 after a fire broke out at the facility and had resumed full operations in May 2024.