Golden Pass LNG poised to export second cargo as HL Sea Eagle berths

The 18 mtpa Golden Pass LNG terminal in Sabine Pass, Texas, is poised to export its second cargo with the arrival of the ExxonMobil-operated LNG tanker HL Sea Eagle, 15 days after it shipped its inaugural cargo on Apr. 22.

Kpler data show HL Sea Eagle is berthed at Golden Pass and is expected to depart after loading 168,780 m3 of LNG. The QatarEnergy-operated Al Qaiyyah loaded the project's inaugural cargo of 168,009 m3 on Apr. 22 and is en route to Belgium's Zeebrugge terminal with an expected arrival on May 8.

Market sources had expected QatarEnergy to lift the terminal's first two cargoes after Al Qaiyyah berthed at Golden Pass ahead of HL Sea Eagle, which had previously been expected to load the inaugural cargo. Instead, the ExxonMobil-operated vessel has taken the second slot.

According to industry participants, feed gas deliveries into Golden Pass have remained broadly flat since before the inaugural cargo loaded, standing at 0.37 billion ft3 a day on May 5 compared with 0.3 billion ft3 a day on Apr. 15 and 0.37 billion ft3 a day on Apr. 22. At roughly half the 0.8-0.9 billion ft3 a day required for full Train 1 utilisation, the flows imply a production rate of two to three cargoes a month and a loading cadence of around one cargo every 10-15 days.