Later Freeport LNG Startup Seen as ‘Modest Negative’ as Natural Gas Futures Pare Losses Early

Natural gas futures pared their losses in early trading Wednesday as traders and analysts continued to mull the balance implications of a later-than-expected restart for a major U.S. export terminal.

Coming off a 48.7-cent sell-off in the previous session, the September Nymex contract was up 5.2 cents to $9.245/MMBtu as of around 8:55 a.m. ET.

Futures pulled back sharply Tuesday following news that the Freeport LNG terminal, located on Quintana Island on the Texas Coast, is now guiding for a return to service starting in November, about a month later than previously expected. Initial production is now expected to begin in early to mid-November and ramp up to a “sustained level” of 2 Bcf/d by the end of the month.

The updated guidance from Freeport “took some wind out of...