U.S. LNG exports are now expected to drop to 10.5 Bcf/d in the second half of this year following the prolonged outage at the Freeport LNG terminal on the Texas coast, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in an updated forecast.

The 10.5 Bcf/d estimate for liquefied natural gas exports in the second half of the year, included in the agency’s latest Short-Term Energy Outlook Tuesday, reflects a 14% drop from month-earlier projections. For full-year 2022, EIA expects U.S. LNG exports to average 10.9 Bcf/d before rising to 12.7 Bcf/d in 2023.

The agency’s modeling assumes a return to full service at the 2.0 Bcf/d Freeport terminal by January 2023.

“Strong natural gas demand and high LNG prices in Europe and Asia drove the continued growth in U.S. LNG exports in...