
Natural gas flows to Freeport LNG export plant in Texas drop Wednesday, sources say
Freeport is the third largest LNG export facility in the U.S. and has helped the country remain the world's largest exporter of the superchilled gas.
It is one of the most closely watched LNG export plants in the world because the start and stop of its operations can often cause price swings in global gas markets. It has a capacity to consume 2.2 billion cubic feet of gas per day and can produce 16.3 million metric tons per annum (mtpa) of LNG.
When flows to Freeport drop, gas prices in the U.S. usually decline due to lower demand from the plant for the fuel. Meanwhile, prices in Europe usually increase due to a drop in LNG supplies available to global markets from the plant.
Freeport declined to comment.
Last Friday, the company experienced a brief power outage to one of its plants, commonly called trains, and had to take the plant out of service to cool down before eventually restarting it, according to a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
Freeport reported last Friday's trip was caused by the plant's compressor system, according to the TCEQ filing.

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Reuters
33 minutes ago
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Trump tax bill averts one debt crisis but makes future financial woes worse
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Analysts had estimated the so-called X-date, when the Treasury would no longer be able to pay all of its obligations without an increase or suspension of the debt limit, could have occurred at the end of August or in early September. Longer term, however, the bill has largely been seen as bad news for the U.S. bond market and the nation's fiscal health. It will add $3.4 trillion to the nation's debt over the next decade, nonpartisan analysts have estimated. That would exacerbate concerns over additional bond supply and dwindling demand for U.S. Treasuries that have been a key driver of financial markets in recent months. "The bill contributes to some of the structural concerns around Treasuries, with respect to No. 1, ongoing fiscal deficit and elevated debt levels, and No. 2, inflation," said Mike Medeiros, macro strategist at Wellington Management. BlackRock warned on Monday that foreign buyers were already souring on American debt. There was a real risk that demand for the $500 billion in debt the U.S. issues every week will fall even more and push borrowing costs higher. "We've been highlighting the precarious position of the U.S. government's indebtedness for some time now, and, if left unchecked, we view debt as the single greatest risk to the 'special status' of the U.S. in financial markets," BlackRock's investment managers said in a note. The bill is projected to reduce tax revenues by $4.5 trillion, reduce spending by $1.2 trillion and cost 10.9 million people their federal health insurance over the next decade, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. The legislation also stokes economic growth by allowing businesses to fully expense equipment purchases as well as research and development costs, and provides other tax breaks. Some investors, however, worry the debt overhang could curtail the economic stimulus in the bill, which Trump refers to as the "One Big Beautiful Bill". 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A slowdown in economic data in recent weeks has also bolstered expectations for interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year, contributing to optimism in stocks and bonds, although a blowout jobs report on Thursday dampened hopes for any immediate easing in monetary policy. "It's not going to be the overall driving factor (for the market)," said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth in Fairfield, Connecticut. "It's earnings first and then the Federal Reserve," he said.


Telegraph
39 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Trump's ‘big, beautiful bill' passes
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
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Ultimately, Republicans who had objected to its cost and contents folded, and the bill passed with just two GOP defections: Thomas Massie, a rightwing Kentucky lawmaker, and Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents a Pennsylvania district that voted for Kamala Harris in last year's election. 'We've waited long enough, some of us have literally been up for days now, but this day – this day – is a hugely important one in the history of our nation,' the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, said, just before voting began. 'With one big, beautiful bill, we are going to make this country stronger, safer and more prosperous than ever before, and every American is going to benefit from that.' The legislation is expected to speed up and expand Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations, and will likely make Trump's longstanding desire for a wall along the border with Mexico a reality. 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Those changes are expected to cost millions of people their benefits, but the bill remains expensive, with the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) saying it will add $3.3tn to the country's debt through 2034. Democrats blasted the proposal as 'one big, ugly bill' that dismantles anti-poverty programs to fund tax breaks for the wealthy. Analyses have shown that high earners benefited most from Trump's tax policies. The Democratic House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, made a last-ditch effort to halt the bill's passage by delivering a floor speech that lasted eight hours and 44 minutes, the longest ever. 'This is extraordinary. This assault on everyday Americans, assault on children, veterans, seniors, people with disabilities. It's incredible to me, all of this in this one, big, ugly bill,' Jeffries said. 'Ripping food out of the mouths of vulnerable Americans – that's extraordinary that that's what we're doing, extraordinary. And all of this is being done, this unprecedented assault on everyday Americans, is being unleashed on the American people, Mr Speaker, on the most vulnerable among us, all of this is being done to provide massive tax breaks to billionaire donors. Shame on this institution. If this bill passes, that's not America. We're better than this.' Trump has described the bill as crucial to the success of his second term, and congressional Republicans made its passage their top priority. It was a tall task – the GOP won small majorities in both the House and Senate in last November's election, and could afford no more than three defections in either chamber. The party's lawmakers broadly support Trump but were divided on a host of other issues. There were lawmakers who wanted big spending cuts, rapid phase-outs of green energy incentives and an expanded deduction that would mostly benefit taxpayers in Democratic-led states. Their demands butted against others who sought to moderate the bill, but over the course of weeks, Republicans leaders managed to forge a compromise. The bill is only able to affect revenue, spending and the debt limit, under the rules of budget reconciliation that allowed the GOP to avoid a filibuster by Democrats in the Senate. Under Biden, Congress's then Democratic majority had used the same procedure to pass legislation to spur the economy's recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and curb US carbon emissions. Trump's bill allocates $45bn for Ice detention facilities, $14bn for deportation operations and billions of dollars more to hire 10,000 new agents by 2029. An additional $50bn will go towards the border wall and other fortifications. Enrollees of Medicaid and Snap will face new work requirements, and states will be forced to share part of the cost of the latter program for the first time ever. The CBO estimates the bill's Medicaid changes could cost as many as 11.8 million people their healthcare, and the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities forecasts about 8 million people, or one in five recipients, may lose their Snap benefits. The legislation also forces changes to provider taxes, which states use to finance their share of Medicaid spending. That is expected to further increase the financial stress of hospitals in rural areas, and when the bill was in the Senate, a $50bn fund was added to support those facilities. Some in the GOP were openly nervous about the cuts to safety net programs that their constituents rely on. Thom Tillis, a senator who represents swing state North Carolina, refused to support the bill for those reasons, leading Trump to announce he would support a primary challenger when he stands for re-election next year. Tillis then made public his plans to retire, a potential boost for Democrats' hopes of claiming his seat. 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