US LNG Feedgas Falls to 16.9 Bcf per Day as Freeport, Golden Pass, Cameron Hit Maintenance

US liquefied natural gas feedgas deliveries fell to roughly 16.9 billion cubic feet per day so far in May, down from a monthly record of 18.8 Bcf/d in April, according to LSEG pipeline nominations cited by Reuters. The decline coincides with simultaneous spring maintenance at three of the country's largest export complexes: Freeport LNG, Golden Pass LNG and Cameron LNG. The shortfall lands precisely as European buyers pay a near six-week premium for cargoes that Strait of Hormuz disruption has made structurally scarcer.

Henry Hub front-month futures settled at $3.02 per MMBtu on Thursday's CME close, up 0.62 percent on the day after a 3.5 percent decline in Wednesday's session, per CME settlement data. Dutch TTF front-month traded near 49.8 euros per MWh, equivalent to roughly $16.30 per MMBtu, leaving the transatlantic gas spread at about $13.30 per MMBtu. Under normal conditions, that level would have US terminals running flat out.

Three terminals offline at once

Freeport LNG took one of the plant's three liquefaction trains offline on May 13 for scheduled maintenance the operator said would last several weeks, a duration consistent with prior turnarounds at the 17.4 million tonne per year Texas facility. Each Freeport train can process roughly 0.7 Bcf/d at full capacity.

Golden Pass LNG, the 18.1 million tonne per year joint venture between ExxonMobil (70 percent) and QatarEnergy (30 percent), saw feedgas deliveries collapse to near zero for six consecutive days through May 18. The operator attributed the cut to planned maintenance following the facility's second commissioning cargo. ExxonMobil told analysts on its May 1 earnings call that Train 2 mechanical completion is expected in Q4 2026, with Train 3 in Q2 2027.

At Cameron LNG, owned 50.2 percent by Sempra alongside Mitsui, Mitsubishi and TotalEnergies, annual maintenance began May 1 on the 15 million tonne per year Louisiana facility. Recent turnarounds at Cameron have run three to four weeks, putting a probable restart in the final week of May.

Roughly $25 million of daily margin sidelined

The combined effect, a 1.9 Bcf/d gap between April's record flow and current May feedgas, represents roughly 11 percent of US LNG export capacity offline at the worst possible moment in the global pricing cycle. At the prevailing $13.30 per MMBtu Henry Hub-TTF spread, that lost throughput equates to about $25 million per day in foregone trading margin for the cargo lifters and offtakers, money flowing to the operators that timed their May turnarounds before Hormuz blew open.

The pricing dislocation is not theoretical. Cheniere Energy, which finished spring work at its 28.9 million tonne per year Corpus Christi facility before the Iran-Hormuz episode escalated, is currently the principal US beneficiary of the maintenance-induced scarcity. By contrast, ExxonMobil, the largest equity holder in Golden Pass, will miss several weeks of what would otherwise be the most lucrative cargo arbitrage in the LNG market's history.

Storage build confirms the lost demand

The US Energy Information Administration reported a net injection of 101 billion cubic feet into working gas storage for the week ended May 15, lifting total stocks to 2,391 Bcf, 6.6 percent above the five-year average and 1.4 percent above year-ago levels. The figure printed roughly 6 Bcf above the 95 Bcf consensus among traders polled by Reuters, a bearish surprise the agency's data implicitly attributes to softer LNG offtake.

Six billion cubic feet of incremental weekly storage corresponds almost exactly to the daily LNG export shortfall multiplied across a seven-day window. The math implies the storage build was not driven by weak power burn or mild weather but by gas that should have moved through liquefaction trains and shipped to Rotterdam.

Crude context

WTI front-month traded near $101 per barrel on Thursday's CME session, recovering roughly 3 percent after a near 6 percent two-session decline, per CME quotes. Brent steadied above $105 per barrel on ICE. The Iranian Supreme Leader's Thursday directive against shipping near-weapons-grade uranium abroad and Iran's announced "Persian Gulf Strait Authority" weakened the optimistic peace-deal narrative that drove Wednesday's selloff, leaving both LNG and crude bids elevated heading into the Memorial Day weekend.

The simultaneous tightening of crude and gas is unusual. Wood Mackenzie analysts have argued repeatedly through 2026 that LNG netbacks to US producers exceed crude netbacks at current Hormuz-disrupted pricing, a regime that traditionally lasts only weeks, not months. May's maintenance window will end. The question for traders is whether TTF will still print above 48 euros per MWh when Freeport, Golden Pass and Cameron all turn back on.