Maryland Cove Point LNG Export Plant of Berkshire Hathaway shut down for maintenance

According to a notice sent to customers, U.S. energy company Berkshire Hathaway Energy closed its Cove Point LNG export plant in Maryland during the annual autumn maintenance period of about three weeks.

According to data from the financial firm LSEG, the amount of natural gases flowing into the plant has dropped to almost zero since August 1, when it averaged around 0.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd).

Since mid-October 2023, when it was returned to service from its previous autumn maintenance outage, the plant has averaged around 0.8 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of LNG.

A billion cubic feet of gas is enough to power about five million U.S. households for one day.

U.S. LNG plants usually shut down for planned maintenance during spring or autumn, when the global demand for gas to heat or cool is lower than in winter or summer.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy, a subsidiary of the U.S. multinational Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy purchased 50% of Cove Point in September 2023 from Virginia energy company Dominion Energy for approximately $3.3 billion.

Cove Point is operated by Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which also owns 75%. The remaining 25% is owned by Brookfield Asset Management.

Cove Point has sold its LNG under agreements of 20 years to GAIL (India), a subsidiary of the Japanese trading company Sumitomo, and ST Cove Point. ST Cove Point is a joint-venture between units of Sumitomo Trading and Tokyo Gas. (Reporting and editing by Susan Fenton; Scott DiSavino)

(source: Reuters)