US Imports LNG Cargo From Trinidad Amid Arctic Freeze

The US imported a LNG cargo into the Cove Point LNG terminal to cope with increased heating demand amid the latest arctic freeze that significantly boosted heating demand, Bloomberg ship tracking data showed.

• The Seapea Glasgow LNG tanker headed to the US Cove Point LNG terminal on 18 January, carrying a Trinidad cargo. The ship was originally scheduled to sail to Thailand but the vessel had been diverted after the recent extreme cold in the US that boosted heating demand significantly, Bloomberg ship tracking data showed.
• The Cove Point terminal is now mainly an export terminal but retains facilities to import cargoes on occasion. Especially during the winter month cold weather causes the pipelines north from the Gulf of Mexico to be fully booked, so delivering LNG to northern terminals like Cove Point or Everett in Boston can help to bypass congested transmission lines from the south of the US to the north, ICIS analyst Alex Froley said.
• US natural gas demand for heating reached a new record this week, with almost 4bcm/d of gas used in rescom and power sectors on 16 January, mainly used for heating during the arctic cold spell, IEA analyst, Greg Molnar, said via LinkedIn.
• Rescom demand surged by almost 40% year on year so far in January, while gas burn in the power sector increased by 20% on the year, Molnar added.
• Bloomberg data suggested lower 48 gas demand surged to 133.843bcf/d on 16 January.
• On the supply side, Canadian pipeline imports jumped by 18% WoW in the week to 16 January to cope with increased demand. Storage withdrawals also rose by 7% on the week, he said.
• Freeze-offs impacting production are estimated at around 3.5bcf/d in January, JP Morgan said in a note on 19 January.