One of the largest U.S. plants producing liquefied natural gas, will shutter for at least three weeks after an explosion yesterday.
Closing Freeport LNG on Quintana Island in Brazoria County raises the risk of shortages, especially in Europe.
Photo: Freeport LNG
Officials at the huge plant, which processes about 20% of LNG in the U.S., announced the shutdown late Wednesday after fully inspecting damage from the blast, which occurred around 11:40 a.m.
No one was reported injured in the incident. It was unclear what caused the blast which sent black smoke billowing into the air.
In Europe this morning, gas prices were up as traders feared the lost production would further stress a market already coping with reduced supplies from Russia. U.S. natural gas markets fell as traders anticipated the outage would lower domestic demand.
One expert estimated that a three-week shutdown at the plant would short the LNG market by at least a million tons.