UPDATE 2-US regulator approves Freeport LNG completion of Phase 1 restart

(Adds Freeport statement) March 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. energy regulator on Wednesday granted Freeport LNG's request to return to service the last of its three gas liquefaction units and phase 1 facilities at its export plant in Texas. In February, the LNG export facility, the second-biggest in the United States, started to exit an eight-month outage that was caused by a fire in June 2022, and restarted its second liquefaction unit last week. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order said Freeport can produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) up to the maximum authorized capacity of 782 billion cubic feet (bcf) per year, or about 2.14 bcf per day. Freeport said it had returned two of its three liquefaction trains to full commercial operations in recent weeks, producing more than 1.5 bcf per day. "A conservative ramp-up profile to establish full three-train production is anticipated to occur over the next few weeks," Freeport said in a statement. The amount of natural gas flowing to the plant was on track to reach just 0.1 bcf per day on Wednesday, down from 1.0 bcf per day on Tuesday, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. "As the recommissioning of Freeport’s liquefaction facility continues and trains are restarted, changes in feed gas flows and production rates are to be anticipated, given the duration of the plant’s outage," Freeport said. Earlier this week, FERC had sought more information from the LNG export company to evaluate its request for its phase 1 restart, which includes three liquefaction units, two storage tanks, and one LNG loading dock. (Reporting by Harshit Verma and Deep Vakil in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio and Grant McCool)