The US is hitting the upper limit on LPG exports, Dorian LPG chief executive John Lycouris told attendees at the Capital Link International Shipping Forum in New York Monday.
Issues at the Mariner East pipeline in Pennsylvania and at the port of Houston have effectively capped texports at the mid-30 million tonnes per annum range, he said.
“We really cannot export” any more, said Lycouris, speaking on a panel about the sector.
US exports may hit 35 mtpa or 36 mtpa “but I don’t think there is capacity for more”.
In February, regulators in Pennsylvania suspended work permits for Energy Transfer Partners, the company that owns and is building the Mariner East pipeline system, which carries gas across the state to local consumers and a terminal south of Philadelphia.
The suspension came six months after an explosion at its Revolution natural gas pipeline, which prompted environmental regulators to issue orders to “stabilize disturbed areas.” The state alleges Energy Transfer Partners failed to comply with the order.
The next month, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro and a local district attorney announced investigations into criminal misconduct related to work on Mariner East.
In Houston, the port’s ship channel was closed for three days after a chemical spill and fire, in what is being called the worst chemical disaster on the Texas Gulf Coast in a decade or more. The incident was the latest at a port suffering from heavy traffic and fog slowing down trade.
Lycouris said the petrochemical industry could use some of the LPG the US cannot export. Otherwise, consumers in the far east will have to look elsewhere.
“If its china and they cannot get it from the US, where are they going to get it from? The Middle East,” he said. “And they’re going to have to pay more and more and more for cargos.”
