A Texas LNG export terminal that shut after a June 8 fire will delay its expected return to service by one month, after the Biden administration said the plant couldn’t restart without written permission.

Freeport LNG now plans to resume partial operations in October.

“With commencement of such operations, we expect to be able to deliver substantially all baseload production volumes,” Freeport said in a statement. “ At this time, we continue to target year-end for a return to full production.”

Before normal operations can resume at the facility, Freeport must take a series of corrective actions and send weekly updates to agency, according to a federal notice Thursday. 

“It appears conditions exist at Freeport’s LNG export facility that pose an integrity risk to public safety, property, or the environment,” the notice said.

While the notice doesn’t lay out a timeline for restart, it could result in further delays to the company’s restart plans.

US natural gas futures extended losses Thursday, posting the worst monthly loss since 2018. Freeport, one of just seven exports facilities in the US, accounts for 15% of liquefied natural gas exports. 

Freeport must hire a third-party to assess the qualifications of training of certain key personnel and provide a work plan detailing remediation measures, PHMSA said in the notice. It also has to have a third party evaluate storage tanks, control system procedures, and training programs among other requirements.

The company, in its statement, said review was already underway “to ensure that all necessary corrective actions are identified and fully implemented prior to resuming operations.”

Preliminary evidence suggests that an isolated pressure safety valve “created an overpressure situation” in 300 feet of vacuum insulated piping, according to the federal notice. The piping then burst and allowed LNG and methane to be released into the facility, causing a subsequent explosion and fire that damaged piping and components in the plant, the agency said.