美国巨大的冬季风暴威胁使得液化天然气市场紧张

席卷北美的冬季风暴已经切断了数百万人的电力供应，并打乱了另外数百万人的圣诞旅行计划

虽然美国电网避免了任何灾难性的故障，但Sabine Pass和Corpus Christi液化天然气终端生产很可能被中断

欧洲明年将需要大量的液化天然气，因为它不再使用产能大国天然气，像这样的短缺将变得越来越麻烦

据油价网12月26日报道，席卷美国的巨大的致命冬季风暴可能会扰乱全球最大的液化天然气（LNG）出口国之一的供应，使今年价格大起大落的市场变得紧张。

美国的北极风暴切断了数百万家庭的电力供应，由于成千上万的航班被取消，又有数百万人的圣诞旅行计划被打乱。就在圣诞假期周末之前，近2.5亿美国和加拿大居民以某种方式受到风暴的影响，至少有19人死亡与冰封天气和严寒有关。

美国墨西哥湾沿岸的所有州——得克萨斯州、路易斯安那州、阿拉巴马州和佛罗里达州都发出了冰封警告。

虽然得克萨斯州的电网在风暴期间设法避免了灾难性的故障，但航运机构警告说，在为Sabine Pass最大的液化天然气出口终端服务的水道上，可能会出现航行中断。

根据彭博社援引莫兰航运公司的通知，12月26日（星期一）之前的冰冻温度可能会延迟或暂停为Sabine Pass服务的萨宾关口的引航服务。此外，莫兰航运公司说，由于冬季的极端天气，引航员已经暂停船舶在得克萨斯州科珀斯克里斯蒂港的停靠。因此，前往科珀斯克里斯蒂的液化天然气出口设施的船舶交通可能会受到影响。

圣诞节期间美国的冬季风暴可能是今年影响全球液化天然气市场的最新极端事件。

就在上周，澳大利亚近海的浮式液化天然气出口设施Prelude发生火灾，迫使运营商壳牌公司关闭了生产，而此前Prelude在FLNG进行了长达数月的工业行动后恢复了运营，距此仅仅三个月。

澳大利亚也是世界上最大的液化天然气出口国之一，与美国和卡塔尔并列，但正是美国的液化天然气帮助欧洲在今年冬天之前达到了舒适的天然气储存供应水平。

美国已经向欧洲运送了创纪录的液化天然气，以帮助欧盟盟友，最近几个月，大约70%的美国液化天然气出口都运往欧洲。

今年早些时候，由于欧洲竞相在今年冬天之前囤积超低温燃料，液化天然气的价格飙升至创纪录。欧盟摆脱对产能大国天然气的依赖的动机，使欧洲成为灵活合同液化天然气货物的首选目的地，特别是来自美国的货物。

根据牛津能源研究所（OIES）的估计，在1月至11月期间，欧盟和英国的液化天然气进口总量同比猛增65%。仅从美国的进口就猛增了176%，而从其他来源的进口则增长了27%。OIES说，在同一时期，全球液化天然气出口仅增长了5.5%，其中近一半的增长来自美国。

分析师和业内人士说，明年，欧洲将需要更多的液化天然气供应，以抵消来自产能大国的低水平（或可能不存在的）管道流量。

大宗商品交易商托克公司（Trafigura）本月早些时候说，随着管道天然气输送量的暴跌，欧洲明年将需要“大量”的液化天然气，并补充说，它预计天然气和液化天然气市场将继续波动。

托克公司在其截至9月30日的年度报告中说，虽然欧洲应该通过利用库存和减少需求来避免今年冬天的停电，但鉴于来自产能大国的流量大量减少，它在2023年将需要进口大量的液化天然气。

托克公司称，欧洲的天然气价格必须保持高位，以便欧洲能够继续吸引大部分液化天然气货物，与其他主要需求中心竞争。该商品交易商预计，欧洲将优先考虑供应安全，“直到明年冬天和以后”。  

曹海斌 编译自 油价网

Huge U.S. Winter Storm Threatens To Tighten LNG Market

The winter storm sweeping across North America has cut off power supply to millions and disrupted Christmas travel plans for millions more.

While the U.S. power grid avoided any catastrophic failures, the Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi LNG terminals could well be disrupted.

Europe will need huge volumes of LNG next year as it turns its back on Russian gas, and shortages such as this one will become increasingly problematic.

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The gigantic deadly winter storm sweeping through the United States could disrupt global supply from one of the top liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters, tightening a market that’s seen wild swings in prices this year.

The Arctic blast in the United States cut off the power supply to millions of households and disrupted Christmas travel plans for millions more as thousands of flights were canceled. Just ahead of the Christmas holiday weekend, almost 250 million U.S. and Canadian residents were affected by the storm in one way or another, and at least 19 deaths were connected to the icy blast and the severe winter conditions.  

Hard-freeze warnings have been issued for all the states along the U.S. Gulf Coast—Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida.

While the Texas power grid managed to avoid catastrophic failures during the storm, shipping agencies warn there could be a disruption of navigation on waterways servicing the biggest LNG export terminal at Sabine Pass.

Freezing temperatures until Monday, December 26, could delay or suspend pilot services for the Sabine-Neches Waterway servicing Sabine Pass, per notices by Moran Shipping quoted by Bloomberg. Moreover, pilots have suspended the docking of ships at the port of Corpus Christi in Texas due to the extreme winter weather, Moran Shipping says. As a result, vessel traffic to the LNG export facility at Corpus Christi could be impacted.  

The winter storm in the U.S. during Christmas could be the latest extreme event to affect the global LNG market this year.  

Just last week, a fire at the floating LNG export facility Prelude offshore Australia forced the operator, Shell, to shut down production, just three months after Prelude resumed operations following a months-long industrial action at the FLNG.  

Australia is also one of the world’s top LNG exporters, alongside the U.S. and Qatar, but it has been American LNG that has helped Europe reach comfortable gas storage supply levels ahead of this winter.

The United States has shipped record volumes of LNG to Europe to help EU allies and around 70% of all American LNG exports have headed to Europe in recent months.

LNG prices surged to records earlier this year as Europe was racing to stock up on the superchilled fuel ahead of this winter. The EU’s incentive to shake off Russian gas dependence and replace volumes that the bigger producer no longer supplies has made Europe the preferred destination of flexible-contract LNG cargoes, especially those from the United States.

Between January and November, LNG imports into the EU and the UK combined jumped by 65% year over year, according to estimates from the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES). imports from the United States alone surged by 176%, while imports from other sources grew by 27%. In that same period, global LNG exports grew by just 5.5%, with nearly half of the growth coming from the United States, OIES said. 

Next year, Europe will need even more LNG supply to offset low (or possibly non-existent) pipeline flows from the bigger producer, analysts and industry players say.

With the plunge in Russian pipeline gas deliveries, Europe will need “huge volumes” of LNG next year, commodity trader Trafigura said earlier this month, adding it expects continued volatility in the natural gas and LNG markets. 

“While Europe should avoid a blackout this winter by drawing on inventories and cutting demand, it will need to import huge volumes of LNG in 2023 given the massive reduction in flows from the bigger producer,” Trafigura said in its annual report for the year to September 30.

Natural gas prices in Europe will have to remain elevated so that the continent can continue to attract most of the LNG cargoes in competition with the other key demand centers, according to Trafigura. The commodity trader expects Europe to prioritize the security of supply “through next winter and beyond.”