U.S. to Retain LNG Export Leadership

Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The United States maintains its position as the top exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), with deliveries expected to increase by more than 10% next year even with lingering issues with infrastructure, data show.

The United States was moving to the top position for exports of LNG just as Russian supplies of natural gas were pushed out of the market by Western-backed sanctions imposed because of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Russia was once the dominant gas supplier to Europe, though its market share has been taken up by the likes of Australia, Qatar and the U.S.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA), the data arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, raised its estimate for LNG exports for 2025 by 14% from current levels to 13.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) on average.

There were 26 vessels laden with LNG that left U.S. export terminals during the seven-day period ending October 9, carrying a combined 96 Bcf of gas in liquid form. That compares with 73 Bcf during the similar period last year.

And that's even with one terminal closed for maintenance. Feedgas volumes into the Cove Point LNG facility located off the coast of Maryland were shuttered last week due to scheduled maintenance. The first LNG export facility on the U.S. East Coast, Cove Point is designed to process some 1.8 Bcf/d for waterborne deliveries.

Click on the image at right for a graph showing LNG exports originating at various terminals across the U.S. from January 2019 through September 2024.

Cove Point closed for a three-week maintenance period on September 20. It loaded cargo onto three vessels during the seven-day period ending September 18. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Production Plant Database can click here for a plant profile.

Several new facilities will only expand U.S. dominance in the LNG sector, among the largest of which is the Plaquemines facility in Louisiana with its design capacity of 3.32 Bcf/d. Phase 1 should be in service by this coming spring and all cylinders should be firing by the end of 2025. Click here for a profile on the facility.

The U.S. LNG sector faced an uncertain future this year when President Joe Biden declared a moratorium on new export facilities amid environmental concerns. While considered a cleaner-burning fuel, natural gas is still a polluting fossil fuel and the LNG sector is prone to releases of methane, a potent greenhouse gas with a warming potential far greater than that of carbon dioxide.

A federal judge in July ruled the pause on approvals for new LNG exports was "completely without reason or logic," throwing a roadblock in front of some of Biden's climate objectives.

Scientists at the U.S. space agency NASA in 2020 observed a 2-mile plume of methane emanating from the Permian, among the largest inland shale natural gas basins in the country.

Scientists believe that controlling methane emissions will have a more immediate impact on climate change because it persists in the atmosphere for about 10 years, relative to carbon dioxide, which can linger for centuries.

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