A major Texas liquefied natural gas exporter, Freeport LNG, said Friday that statements posted earlier in the day on Twitter and other social media using fake, Freeport-branded letters were “false information,” adding that it has not issued any recent statement regarding the restart of its liquefaction plant.
“Any tweets and/or posts on the Freeport LNG brand paper that may have been received or published report false information and are not legitimate, public information from Freeport LNG,” the company said in a statement on its website. internet.
Privately owned Freeport LNG operates on the Texas Gulf Coast and is one of seven US LNG export facilities. He had to close his factory in June due to an explosion and fire and has not yet reopened. He said in August that he anticipated an initial restart in early to mid-November.
The closure of the Freeport plant reduces total US LNG export capacity by approximately 2 billion cubic meters per day, or 17% of total US LNG export capacity. As such, the shutdown and speculation about when exactly it will resume has been a hot topic in natural gas futures trading markets.
That speculation grew significantly on Friday morning when a Twitter account, @Lithium_Plays, made several unconfirmed statements about Freeport, which were widely shared by other Twitter accounts, including a so-called energy Twitter influencer , an oil analyst for a major international bank. whose account has 64,000 followers. But those tweets from @Lithium_Plays were then quickly deleted.
Shortly after, another account, @rr9b250, tweeted a screenshot that appeared to come directly from Freeport LNG, as it was on Freeport LNG’s letterhead with the same logo colors you see on Freeport’s official website. The statement ended with “Sincerely, Freeport LNG Public Relations”.
See also: Oil ends higher but prices fall for week on China’s ‘clean as mud’ COVID-19 policy
This statement, which Freeport LNG has now confirmed to be false, appeared to be a response from the company to the statements of the @Lithium_Plays account, and also provided some additional information on when Freeport may begin its restart. It was also shared widely on Twitter, especially among those tracking hashtags like #natgas and #naturalgas.
While both accounts that sent the tweets are unverified, the tweets had a real impact on natural gas prices on Friday. Traders noted that front-month prices were 3% higher by mid-morning at around $6,424/mmBtu, but then fell as the tweets were published and began to circulate, and the market eventually closed the session on the 5th. 8% lower to $5,879/mmBtu.
Email Dan Molinski at [email protected]
Don’t miss: Opinion: ‘He Sold Caviar to Buy a $2 Slice of Pizza’ – Why Tesla Investors Are the Biggest Losers in Elon Musk’s Twitter Deal
