Shanghai Suspends LNG Loadings as Strong Typhoon Batters City

Shanghai has suspended all LNG cargo loadings and all port operations as the most powerful tropical cyclone in seven decades hit the financial and port hub.

Waiting for Typhoon Bebinca to make landfall, Shanghai shut down early on Monday all LNG terminals and suspended all loadings, Upstream reports.

Typhoon Bebinca, a Category 1 storm, was the most powerful cyclone to directly hit Shanghai and its outskirts since 1949.

While the typhoon is disrupting some LNG trade in Shanghai, concerns on the natural gas market have eased about the impact of another storm, in the United States.

Hurricane Francine disrupted some LNG operations along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Francine, which made landfall in Louisiana last week, did not affect liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals equally, the EIA said at the end of last week. Operations continued at terminals in South Texas, and ports were open with restrictions. In South Louisiana, natural gas deliveries to Cameron LNG declined ahead of the hurricane's landfall and were down by 60% (1.3 billion cubic feet per day [Bcf/d]) on Thursday, from 2.2 Bcf/d on Sunday, September 8. The Ports of Cameron and Lake Charles were closed as of Thursday but were being assessed for reopening.

Meanwhile, a fifth of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and some 28% of natural gas production remained shut in as of Sunday.

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said Sunday that staff remains evacuated from 37 production platforms in the Gulf, which represents almost 10% of the manned platforms in the area.

The portion of oil production that remains offline represents around 339,000 barrels per day (bpd). The amount of natural gas production that remains suspended is about 515 million cubic feet daily.

Last week, oil prices rose substantially thanks to the production disruption that Francine caused in the Gulf of Mexico. On Wednesday, when Francine reached the Louisiana coast, as much as 46% of manned production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico were evacuated, with some 40% of crude oil production affected. 

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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