(Reuters) – The amount of natural gas flowing to U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) company Freeport LNG’s export plant in Texas was on track to fall to a one-month low on Monday, according to data from financial firm LSEG.

Freeport LNG is one of the most closely watched LNG export plants in the world because the start and stop of its operations often cause massive price swings in global gas markets.

U.S. gas futures turned negative due in part to the reduction at Freeport after soaring about 10% earlier in the session to a two year high.

Gas futures at the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark in Europe, meanwhile, were trading up about 4%.

When flows to Freeport decline, gas prices in the U.S. usually slide due to the export plant’s lower demand for the fuel, while prices in Europe increase due to a drop in LNG supplies available to global markets from the plant.

Officials at Freeport declined to comment.

LSEG said the amount of gas flowing to the eight big U.S. LNG export plants, including Freeport, rose to an average of 15.0 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in January, up from 14.4 bcfd in December. That compares with a monthly record high of 14.7 bcfd in December 2023.

One billion cubic feet of gas is enough to supply about five million U.S. homes for a day.

On a daily basis, LNG feedgas was on track to slide from an all-time high of 15.5 bcfd on Jan. 11 to 14.4 bcfd on Monday due mostly to the reduction at Freeport.

Flows to the 2.1-bcfd Freeport were on track to drop to 1.4 bcfd on Monday, down from 1.6 bcfd on Sunday and an average of 2.1 bcfd over the prior seven days.

Separately, flows to Venture Global LNG’s 2.6-bcfd Plaquemines plant under construction in Louisiana were on track to rise to a record 1.0 bcfd on Sunday and Monday.

Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Kirsten Donovan

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