Rewrites throughout; adds LSEG data, background, and no comment from Freeport; changes story identifier from FREEPORT-FORCE MAJEURE;
March 24 (Reuters) - Gulf South Pipeline Company said on Monday it has stopped delivering natural gas to the Freeport LNG plant in Texas after its pipeline was struck by lightning.
The lightning strike caused Gulf South to declare a force majeure on the line effective immediately, it said in a statement, adding it is working to restore service as quickly as possible.
The incident has slashed gas usage at Freeport LNG's plant, which can process up to 2.4 billion cubic feet of gas per day (bcfd), to 450 million cubic feet per day (mcfd) from previous expectations of almost 1.8 bcfd, according to LSEG data.
Freeport usually requires at least 700 mcfd for one of its three trains to operate at full capacity.
The company declined to comment.
Freeport LNG is the U.S. third largest export facility of liquefied natural gas and outages at the plant have in the past caused extreme price moves in the U.S., the world's largest exporter of LNG, and European gas markets.
(Reporting by Sherin Elizabeth Varghese in Bengaluru; Curtis Williams in HoustonEditing by Marguerita Choy)
((sherinelizabeth.varghese@thomsonreuters.com;))
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