Weeks after New Fortress Energy rallied on news of a temporary contract extension for LNG supply to Puerto Rico, Bloomberg now reports ¹ the island has idled temporary power plants after the company abruptly halted a critical gas shipment, raising the risk of power outages at the peak of summer demand.

Puerto Rico Energy Chief Josue Colon slammed the LNG shipment cancellation as "unjustified," disputing New Fortress's claims of being owed millions of dollars since 2020. With 10 out of 14 temporary generators offline and the rest running on expensive, dirty diesel, Colon warned the island now faces an elevated risk of blackouts.

"That exclusivity was created under a contract that the oversight board approved in 2018 when it gave New Fortress exclusivity over the only port in the northern area where natural gas can be brought in," Colon told reporters late last week. "Those preexisting conditions are not this administration's responsibility."

The cancellation is the latest setback for the U.S. gas producer, which is grappling with mounting debt and shares trading at record lows, down roughly 73% since its 2019 IPO. According to the latest Bloomberg data, the stock is heavily shorted, with about 58 million shares sold short, representing about 32.5% of the float.