N America Forecast To Dominate New Global Liquefaction Capacity

North America will contribute close to three-quarters of new global liquefaction capacity in the coming four years, a report released March 27 predicted.

The region will be the main contributor to the growth of LNG export infrastructure between 2019 and 2023, according to data and analytics company GlobalData. With new capacity of around 265mn mt/yr expected to come online, planned and announced projects in North America would provide around 72% of the total new global capacity.

The company’s report: ‘H1 2019 Global Capacity and Capital Expenditure Outlook for LNG Liquefaction Terminals – US Continues to Dominate Global Liquefaction Market with Staggering Capacity Additions' reveals that around 366mn mt/yr of liquefaction capacity is likely to be added during the outlook period.

The US leads the push, and is anticipated to add roughly 215mn mt/yr by 2023. Canada is expected to add around 34mn mt/yr. The pair are also likely to be the biggest new-build capex spenders globally on LNG liquefaction projects.

Oil and gas analyst at GlobalData Ashwin Gupta said: “The two North American countries, the US and Canada, will drive the global liquefaction capacity additions due to booming shale gas production. The US in particular is adding staggering liquefaction capacity additions, disrupting the global LNG supply chain.”

The Middle East comes a distant second in the volume of liquefaction capacity it is set to deliver: about 36mn mt/yr of output, spread over the coming four years. All but 4mn mt/yr of that will appear in Qatar. In the former Soviet Union, 33mn mt/yr is likely to be built, with Russia accounting for all of it.