美国第二大液化天然气出口商自由港液化天然气公司 (Freeport LNG) 1 月 23 日表示，其德克萨斯州工厂的修复工作已完成，并请求美国监管机构允许采取早期措施，重启处于熄火状态的工厂。

这家少数人持股的液化天然气公司的出口设施因 6 月 8 日的大火而关闭，在联邦监管机构完成广泛的安全审查并批准由此产生的变更之前，该设施无法恢复生产。

根据 1 月 23 日向美国联邦能源管理委员会发布的一份文件，Freeport LNG 正在寻求许可，开始将液化天然气引入工厂的管道系统。它写道，“需要随后的批准”才能使液化列车完全恢复服务。

一位发言人证实了这一请求，但拒绝进一步置评。

美国天然气期货上涨 9%，至 3.46 美元/MMBtu，增加了早前天气寒冷预测带来的涨幅。1 月 20 日，期货收于 2021 年 6 月以来的最低价格。

该设施在全功率运行时消耗约 2.1 Bcf/d 的气体。

纽约Again Capital LLC合伙人约翰·基尔达夫(John Kilduff)表示：“自由港新闻解释了价格后期上涨的原因。在这个行业，人们先购买，然后再提问。”

文件称，该公司寻求批准“开始冷却其 Loop 1 传输管道，并恢复该设施的蒸发气体管理压缩机和相关管道”。

该程序大约需要 11 天，是使年产量 1500 万吨的出口设施在停电 7 个月后恢复正常运营的第一步。自由港要求在 1 月 24 日之前对其请求做出答复。

自由港表示，如果获得批准，将允许“将液化天然气引入管道系统，使管道冷却至液化天然气在环路1管道系统内循环所需的低温，并将液化天然气转移到出口设施的1号码头”。

这次停电迫使包括 JERA 和大阪燃气在内的大客户蒙受了数亿美元的损失。其他大型承购商包括 BP、TotalEnergies 和 SK E&S。

Freeport LNG, the second-largest U.S. liquefied natural gas exporter, on Jan. 23 said it had completed repairs to its Texas plant and asked U.S. regulators for permission to take early steps to restart the fire-idled facility.

The closely-held LNG company's export facility was knocked offline by a fiery blast on June 8 and barred from resuming production until federal regulators completed an extensive safety review and approved resulting changes.

Freeport LNG sought permission to begin introducing LNG into the plant's piping system, according to a filing released on Jan. 23 with the U.S Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. "Subsequent approvals would be necessary" to fully return the liquefaction trains to service, it wrote.

A spokesperson confirmed the request but declined further comment.

U.S. natural gas futures jumped as much as 9% to $3.46/MMBtu, adding to an earlier gain on forecasts for colder weather. On Jan. 20, futures closed at the lowest price since June, 2021.

The facility draws around 2.1 Bcf/d of gas when operating at full power.

"The Freeport news explains the late price rally. In this business, folks buy first and ask questions later," said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC in New York.

The company sought approval "to commence cool down of its Loop 1 transfer piping and reinstate the facility's boil off gas management compressors and associated piping," the filing said.

The procedure, which would take about 11 days, would be a first step to returning the 15-million-tonne-per-year export facility to normal operations after a seven-month outage. Freeport asked for a response to its request by Jan. 24.

An approval would allow the "introduction of LNG into the piping systems to allow the piping to cool down to cryogenic temperatures necessary for circulation of LNG within the Loop 1 piping system and to transfer LNG to Dock 1 of the export facility," Freeport said.

The outage forced big customers including JERA and Osaka Gas to book hundreds of millions of dollars of losses. Its other big offtakers include BP, TotalEnergies and SK E&S.