Minor impacts to US LNG from storm Nicholas

The operator of the Cameron LNG export facility in Louisiana said September 14 that Tropical Storm Nicholas had no impact on its operations, though the region continues to reel from the impact of inclement weather.

Operators up and down the US Gulf Coast were busy recovering from Hurricane Ida, a category 4 storm that hit Louisiana on August 29, when Tropical Storm Nicholas soaked the region with heavy rains earlier this week.

Nicholas is forecast to remain parked over Louisiana for much of the week as a tropical depression. Louisiana is home to the Sabine Pass and Cameron LNG export terminals. Area forecasters warned of heavy rains from eastern Texas to Sabine Pass.

Operators at Cameron in a statement sent to NGW said they took the necessary precautions to ensure its personnel and its plant were safe.

“This system continues to be primarily a rain event, with essentially no impact to our operations,” a spokesperson said.

The Freeport LNG terminal in Texas was offline briefly because of the impact of the storm, though sources in Texas told NGW that facility was back up and running as of September 15.

Cheniere operates LNG terminals at Sabine Pass and in Corpus Christi, Texas. That company had no public comment and did not respond to emailed questions.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement reported September 14 that 40% of the crude oil production and 48% of the natural gas production from the US waters of the Gulf of Mexico remain offline due to the impact of Ida.

A storm brewing east of Florida has a 60% chance of forming a cyclone this week. A low-pressure system off the western coast of Africa is expected to develop into a tropical depression as it moves west.