Shipping data released on Thursday shows that the number of LNG tankers awaiting loading at Freeport LNG, Texas, has increased since last week when the U.S.'s second largest LNG exporter halted its processing in anticipation of Hurricane Beryl.

Beryl hit Texas on July 8, near Matagorda. It caused damage to infrastructure and left over 2 million people without power for days.

Freeport and other coastal cities have suffered from wind damage, and the restoration of power has been slow.

Freeport LNG has been slow to restart its operations since it shut down three of its liquefaction train on 7 July and reported wind damage.

The LNG exporter announced on Monday that it would restart one processing train next week, and the other two shortly thereafter. Production will be reduced as it continues repairs.

U.S. Gas Futures dropped by about 7% to a 10 week low on Monday after the market realized that Freeport LNG was likely to continue operating at less than maximum capacity for several days.

According to LSEG, the feedgas for the facility is expected to increase on Thursday. It will use 500 million cubic foot, up from 400 mmcf Wednesday. Gas utilization is increasing as a result of the LNG production beginning in the first train. This can consume up to 700 mmcf a day.

The loading of vessels has not yet resumed. Six LNG tankers were empty and anchored in the port. This is a significant increase from the two ships that were there before the storm. Some of the LNG tankers waited more than ten days. According to LSEG, the last loaded vessel before Beryl made landfall left Freeport on 5 July.

A source familiar with Freeport LNG's operations stated that as of Thursday, the company had not issued any instructions to bring in tankers, even though some vessels were on schedule.

Brazos Pilots association said that the Port of Freeport reopened its navigation channel last week, but there are still draft restrictions on vessels.

Cargo cancellations are often caused by long waits for vessels with back-to-back contract.

Bloomberg, citing traders who are familiar with the issue, reported that Freeport LNG had canceled 10 cargoes scheduled to be loaded through August.

Freeport LNG announced on Thursday that it will not comment on any of its commercial activities, including the cargoes.

The Freeport outage has largely contributed to the drop in gas flows to seven major U.S. export LNG plants. This is down from 12.8 billion cubic feet (bcfd), which was the monthly record in June, and 14.7 bcfd for December 2023.