US becomes world's largest LNG exporter
The US was the leading LNG exporter globally during the first six months of this year, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said July 26, citing data from gas business intelligence platform Cedigaz.
US LNG exports averaged 11.2bn ft3/d from January to June, up 12% on the latter half of 2021. The data largely omits the impact of the fire that occurred late June in Freeport LNG in Texas, which has shut down around 17% of the national liquefaction capacity. EIA said July 12 it expected a 6% exports decline in the second half.
Freeport is expected to remain offline until early October. In June, US LNG exports fell by around 11% on the preceding five month average due to the Freeport LNG outage.
This bucks the general trend of US LNG capacity expansions, with Freeport likely to remain offline until early October. Since November 2021, the US has increased its installed LNG capacity by around 1.9bn ft3/d, the EIA said.
Despite Asian customers clinching long-term US sales and purchase contracts, cargoes in the short run are heading across the Atlantic to EU and UK customers. The EIA says around 71% of US LNG exports went to the EU and UK from January to May, equating to around 8.2bn ft3/d on average.
In both regions, the US remained the top supplier, responsible for 47% of Europe's LNG import total. Qatar accounted for a 15% market share, followed by Russia (14%). Four African LNG suppliers grabbed a combined 17% share of European LNG demand from January to May.
US LNG capacity additions in recent months include Sabine Pass LNG's sixth train, 18 "mid-scale" trains at Calcasieu Pass LNG and more organic production capacity at the Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi facilities. As of July 2022, the EIA pegged US LNG liquefaction capacity at 11.4bn ft3 on average, rising to 13.9bn ft3/d under short-term peak conditions.