The largest LNG vessel ever to load in the US departed Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass export terminal in Louisiana on April 29, a company spokeswoman said.
The 263,000 cu m storage capacity MOL FSRU Challenger was in the Gulf of Mexico and appeared to be heading to China, based on its captain's destination, according to data from cFlow, Platts' trade-flow software.
Because of the size of the floating storage and regasification unit and the volume it can hold, it could stop at multiple destinations.
Cheniere spokeswoman Jenna Palfrey said she could not comment on how much LNG was loaded on board. According to cFlow, the vessel was at 95% of maximum draught, which is the depth of the vessel below the water line. As of 2019, owner Mitsui O.S.K. Lines described the double hull vessel built at South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering as the world's largest FSRU.
While domestic gas prices are incentivizing drilling, robust demand has been bullish for global prices, strengthening netbacks to the Gulf Coast from Asia and Europe and spurring record US LNG exports during what is traditionally shoulder season, when facilities undergo routine maintenance.
With liquefaction facilities at Sabine Pass and near Corpus Christi, Texas, Cheniere is the biggest of the six major US LNG exporters currently in operation. It shipped its first cargo from Sabine Pass in February 2016.
Between the two terminals, it has eight trains in operation and a ninth expected to begin producing LNG by the end of the year. An up to 10 million mt/year mid-scale liquefaction expansion at the Texas facility has been proposed, but has not yet been sanctioned.
China's natural gas demand is expected to set a new record in 2021 as its economy emerges from the coronavirus pandemic faster than most countries and it remains on track to meet its long-term environmental protection targets, according to data from S&P Global Platts Analytics and state-owned Sinopec 's research arm.
Asia remains the world's largest import market for LNG.
Besides being the biggest LNG exporter in the US , Cheniere is on some days the country's biggest individual physical consumer of natural gas.
After the Challenger left Sabine Pass on April 29, two more tankers were observed by cFlow to be moored at the facility for loading.
