Infrastructure: Energy Transfer and Phillips 66 declared back-to-back force majeure events at the Nederland and Freeport LPG export terminals in late October. Freeport’s exports fell 44% that week, but total US LPG exports still rose as other docks picked up the slack.
Exports: US NGL exports fell 5.2% W-o-W for the week ending Oct. 30. LPG exports rose 2.7% while ethane exports fell 31.7%, pulling the total lower.
Infrastructure:
Energy Transfer (ET) and Phillips 66 (PSX) declared back-to-back force majeure events at the Nederland and Freeport LPG export terminals in late October. Freeport’s exports fell 44% that week, but total US LPG exports still rose as other docks picked up the slack.
ET reported a compressor shutdown at Nederland, while PSX experienced a butane refrigeration unit failure following a power outage at Freeport, according to Bloomberg reports published Oct. 28-29.
The two terminals are among the largest outlets for US LPG. East Daley Analytics’ analysis shows Nederland loaded an average 610 Mb/d and Freeport 287 Mb/d over the four weeks ending Oct. 30. Together they moved ~897 Mb/d, or 36% of the 2.51 MMb/d of total US LPG exports.
Both terminals recorded no LPG loadings on Oct. 28, but fared differently thereafter. Nederland recovered quickly: Its exports rose 10.3% W-o-W to 665 Mb/d, the highest of the four weeks. Freeport did not. Its exports fell 44.1% to 202 Mb/d, a loss of ~1.1 MMbbl over the week, or nearly four days of typical loadings.
Other terminals covered the gap. Enterprise Products’ (EPD) Enterprise Hydrocarbons Terminal (EHT) lifted exports 21.0% to 811 Mb/d. That 141 Mb/d gain nearly offset Freeport’s 160 Mb/d decline on its own. Total US LPG exports rose 2.7% to 2,661 Mb/d, also the highest of the four weeks.
Outages Add to a Tight Asian Market
Asian buyers still took notice. OPIS assessed the CFR Japan propane premium for first-half December cargoes at $89/mt over the Far East swap on Nov. 3, nearly double the $47.50/mt on Oct. 22. Premiums were already rising on winter demand and Middle East supply concerns before the outages. OPIS said the force majeures added to supply worries, particularly for butane.
That sensitivity reflects how much Asia now leans on the Gulf Coast. China, Japan and South Korea rely on US LPG as petrochemical feedstock, and winter heating adds to demand in Japan and South Korea. The Freeport force majeure applied to butane, where US exports set three consecutive records this spring. Reuters has reported India plans to source roughly one-quarter of its LPG imports from the US in 2027.
A longer outage would also back barrels into US storage. East Daley estimates propane inventories peaked at 108 MMbbl in September and expects stocks to draw on strong export demand. A full week offline at both terminals would defer more than 6 MMbbl of LPG loadings, delaying that draw and putting downward pressure on Mont Belvieu prices.
New dock capacity will help add more flexibility to loading infrastructure. EPD is adding ~300 Mb/d of propane and butane capability at EHT, with service expected by the end of 2026. ET is adding 55 Mb/d of LPG capacity at Nederland.
Bottom Line: The October outages took Freeport down for much of a week, yet US LPG exports rose because other docks had room. That slack protects a trade in which two terminals carry 36% of volumes.
Exports:
US NGL exports fell 5.2% W-o-W for the week ending Oct. 30. LPG exports rose 2.7%, while ethane exports fell 31.7%.
LPG exports at PSX Freeport fell 44.1% in the last week of October owing to the force majeure events, while ET Nederland rose 10.3%. A 21.0% gain at EPD EHT more than offset Freeport’s decline, leaving total LPG exports up 2.7% W-o-W.
Total ethane exports fell 31.7% W-o-W. EPD’s Neches River exports fell to zero, while its Morgan’s Point terminal rose 58.6%. ET’s Nederland & Orbit exports dropped 66.8%.
