Freeport LNG export plant in Texas to take in more natgas, data shows

NEW YORK, Dec 17 (Reuters) - U.S. liquefied natural gas company Freeport LNG's Texas export plant was set to take in more natural gas on Wednesday, implying that one of its three liquefaction trains has resumed service after shutting down on Tuesday, data from financial firm LSEG showed.

The plant is one of the most closely watched U.S. LNG export facilities in the world because changes to its operations can cause price swings in global gas markets.

Gas prices in the U.S. usually decline in response to lower demand for the fuel from the export plant. Prices in Europe, meanwhile, usually increase because of the reduction in LNG supplies available to global markets.

Futures prices in the U.S. NGc1 were up about 2% on Wednesday after falling to a six-week low on Tuesday due in part to the shutdown of the liquefaction train at Freeport. NGA/

Prices in Europe TRNLTTFMc1, meanwhile, held near a 19-month low, though not necessarily for reasons associated with Freeport. NG/EU

Freeport told Texas environmental regulators that liquefaction Train 2 shut down on Tuesday due to an issue with a compressor system.

Officials at Freeport had no comment on the outage on Tuesday.

LSEG said gas flows to Freeport were on track to rise to 1.9 billion cubic feet per day on Wednesday, up from 1.2 bcfd on Tuesday. That compares with an average of 1.9 bcfd during the prior seven days.

The three liquefaction trains at Freeport are capable of turning about 2.4 bcfd of gas into LNG.

One billion cubic feet of gas is enough to supply about five million U.S. homes for a day.