The US Department of Energy (DOE) today issued two long-term orders authorising LNG exports from Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass project in Louisiana and Corpus Christi in Texas, reports Riviera Maritime Media.
Long-term orders for LNG export
The two orders allow Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi additional flexibility to export the equivalent of 0.72Bn cubic feet per day of natural gas as LNG to any country with which the US does not have a free trade agreement, which includes all of Europe.
Previously the terminals were authorised to export the gas only to countries that had existing free trade agreements with the United States.
While exporters from the United States are already exporting at or near their maximum capacity, with the new issuance, every operating US LNG export project has approval from DOE to export its full capacity to any country where not prohibited by US law or policy.
US set to become top global LNG exporter
The US is set to become the top global exporter of LNG with exports expected to rise by an additional 20% beyond current levels by the end of this year as additional capacity comes online. Asia, in particular, is a rapidly expanding market for natural gas with US exports growing 31% year-on-year in 2020 despite the pandemic.
Last year, nearly 70% of Europe’s LNG supply originated in Russia, the United States and Qatar.
While Russia is usually the leading supplier of LNG to Europe, accounting for about 35% of exports, in 2021 the United States emerged as Europe’s largest source of LNG accounting for 26% of all LNG imports by EU member states, followed by Qatar with 24%.
In January 2022, US LNG supplied more than half of the LNG imports into Europe for the month.
With the expected rise in LNG exports, DOE added it is “particularly focused” on driving down methane emissions in the oil and gas sector both domestically and abroad.
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Source: Riviera Maritime Media
