Over half a dozen US-loaded ethane vessels, originally bound for China, have stalled around the US Gulf Coast after Washington requested US exporters seek licenses to ship the shale gas to the top buyer, according to trade sources and ship tracking data on Friday.
Around half of all US ethane exports head to China, and the halt in flows has pushed ethane prices lower on worries of domestic oversupply and is likely to cut into profits of top ethane producers. Energy Transfer and Enterprise Products Partners, two of the largest ethane producers and exporters, have warned the disruptions could impact their exports. The US Commerce Department has also denied some vessels emergency authorization requests to export to China.
Liberia-flagged STL Qianjiang, which loaded at Energy Transfer's Nederland terminal for China's Satellite Chemical, was anchored off the coast on Friday in the Gulf, according to LSEG and Kpler ship tracking data.
Energy Transfer, which produces ethane by extracting it from natural gas and then exports it from terminals along the Gulf Coast, said it received a letter from the US Commerce Department on June 3 requiring the company to apply for a license to ship ethane to China.
The company and Satellite Chemical did not reply to requests for comments on the vessel.
Three other vessels, which were set to load in early June, were anchored in the US Gulf near Houston and Port Arthur, Texas, while three others hovered further south in the water after having slowed down.
Meanwhile, the Liberia-flagged very large ethane carrier (VLEC) Pacific Ineos Grenadier, which loaded at Enterprise Products Partners' terminal in Morgan's Point, Texas, and had been originally destined for China, was anchored at an Enterprise dock along the Houston Ship Channel on Friday after heading away from the Gulf Coast on Thursday. The ship had not discharged on Friday afternoon and it was not immediately clear if it would. Enterprise has natural gas liquids storage facilities along the ship channel.
The vessel, a part of British petrochemical firm Ineos' fleet, has been used by the company exclusively for transit between the United States and China since August 2023, according to Kpler data.
Enterprise Products Partners received the license requirement letter in late May, and on Wednesday said it received a notice from the US government of its intent to deny emergency requests for three proposed export cargoes of ethane totaling around 2.2 million barrels to China.
Enterprise has 20 days to respond to the denial, it said on Wednesday. Unless otherwise notified by the government by the 45th day after receiving the notification, the denials will become final.
Enterprise and Ineos declined to comment.
"With the curbs on US ethane (exports), these ships are now struggling to move any cargo. So they are either just drifting out at sea or in a neutral direction hoping things resolve themselves with the recent meeting between US and China," an executive at a ship brokering firm said.
US ethane production touched a record 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, according to the Energy Information Administration, and was expected to rise to 3.1 million bpd by next year. Most of the output growth was expected to be exported to meet international demand as domestic consumption will likely hold steady.
Exports also climbed to a record 492,000 bpd last year, of which about 227,000 bpd, or 46 per cent, headed to China.
"These are distressed cargoes at this point. I would expect these to have been sold at significant discounts," said Uday Turaga, founder of energy research and consulting firm ADI Analytics.
"Without China, there are no immediate alternative markets for vast US ethane exports, directly impacting prices and profit for major US producers due to specialized trade contracts," he said.
The letters from the Bureau of Industry and Security, an agency of the US Commerce Department, said exports of ethane pose an unacceptable risk of military end-use in China, according to both companies' filings.
Chinese petrochemical firms use ethane as a feedstock because it is a cheaper alternative than naphtha, while US oil and gas producers need China to buy their natural gas liquids as domestic supply exceeds demand.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar and Georgina McCartney in Houston, Siyi Liu and Trixie Yap in Singapore; Editing by Nick Zieminski)