U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in October remained
capped
by plant outages, with producers shifting more cargoes to Asian
buyers
last month, according to Refinitiv Eikon tanker monitoring data,
after
of a pipeline leak cut supplies from Malaysia.

LNG prices recently have cooled with Europe''s gas storage levels
rising
to over 90% of target capacity and a slow start to winter.

In Asia, however, a declaration of force majeure on gas supplies by
Malaysian state-energy company Petronas PETR.KL has LNG customers in
Japan scrambling for alternative cargoes. Malaysia was the second
biggest supplier of LNG to Japan in 2021.

A total of 88 tankers carrying 6.27 million tonnes of LNG departed in
October from U.S. ports, mostly heading to Europe, the data showed.
The
share of sales to Asian customers rose to 24% from 19% the previous
month, while shipments to Latin America and the Caribbean dropped to
a
couple cargoes.

The export volume was just below September''s 6.32 million tonnes.

Prices at the Dutch hub this week fell to $27 per million British
thermal units as high inventory levels and above-normal temperatures
pushed European gas prices to their lowest since June.

"Europe has enough gas stored to survive this winter unless it gets
very, very cold," said analyst Nikoline Bromander from consultancy
Rystad Energy in a note to clients last week.

About a dozen ships carrying LNG remained anchored last week off
Spain''s
Bay of Cadiz in anticipation of a rise in European gas prices as
plants
that convert the superchilled fuel back to gas were operating at
maximum
capacity.

U.S. LNG producers this year cranked up exports to Europe following
Russia''s invasion of Ukraine, but plant outages and the shutdown of
the
second-largest U.S. export facility have capped additional volumes.

An explosion in June forced the shutdown of Freeport LNG''s 2.1
billion
cubic-feet-per-day Quintana, Texas, processing plant. The company
expects to return to partial service in November amid a regulator''s
call
for additional information before any restart.

The shutdown of the second-largest U.S. LNG export plant has hit many
customers, including Japan''s biggest LNG buyer, JERA, which last week
said it will book a $751-million loss mostly due to higher purchase
costs.

But the No. 3 export plant in the country, the Cove Point LNG
facility
in Maryland, completed its planned maintenance and returned to
service
in October, adding 700 million cubic feet per day (MMcfd) to exports.
U.S. gas storage levels rose to 3.34 trillion cubic feet last week.

"2.7 Bcfd of natural gas which was usually exported as LNG has
instead
directed into the local market since June and late September
respectively," Bromander added.



(Reuters - Reporting by Marianna ParragaEditing by Marguerita Choy)