A roundup of news and commentary from NGI’s LNG Insight
- Update: ClipperData ship tracking now shows five vessels carrying U.S. LNG to China, up from four last week. They include the Arwa Spirit, Cool Explorer, Hoegh Giant, Palu and SK Resolute.
- All the vessels departed from Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi terminals, except for the SK Resolute, which lifted cargo at Cameron LNG. At least two could still be looking for a buyer, the firm said. The last U.S. cargo discharged in China more than a year ago due to trade tensions that have eased.
- Update: Cheniere Energy Inc. has restarted Train 1 at Sabine Pass, according to Genscape Inc. The train went offline earlier this month. U.S. feed gas deliveries dropped to three-week lows April 6 due partly to the outage.
- India, a key buyer of LNG, has extended a three-week lockdown that was to expire on Tuesday by another 19 days. ClipperData said Monday some floating cargoes near India were diverted because of the pandemic lockdown and high inventory levels. Bloomberg also reported Indian buyers were requesting delays to prompt LNG deliveries following extension.
- “The impact on India’s energy markets was immediate and dramatic,” Wood Mackenzie said. “At its worst, national power demand collapsed by almost a third year-on-year in late March...Oil and gas demand have fallen by around 20% since lockdown began.”