In its final run as the prompt month, the September natural gas futures contract opened lower, with steady production and approaching fall weather trumping expectations for a favorable government inventory print.
However, concerns of a possible outage at the Freeport LNG facility in Texas followed by confirmation it was a false fire alarm provided a late morning boost after it raised concern about a possible interruption to liquefied natural gas flows. The bump up in price momentum carried through midday.
“Earlier this morning, a fire safety suppression system in the control room of Freeport LNG’s pretreatment facility unexpectedly activated during routine maintenance,” a spokesperson for the facility said Wednesday. “There was no active fire at the facility, and there was no threat to the surrounding community. In accordance with Freeport LNG’s safety protocols when a fire suppression system is activated, the facility was immediately shut down and personnel in the affected area evacuated. All personnel have been accounted for, and we are now actively working towards reestablishing operations.”
