US House Approves Bill to Speed Up Approval of LNG Projects to Europe

The United States’ House of Representatives approved a bill to fast-track permits for exports of natural gas. The lawmakers voted 277 to 133 to approve the bill. 

The bill has now to be passed by the Senate and then signed into law by American President Barack Obama. The measure would give the Department of Energy (DOE) only 30 days to take a decision on applications to export LNG.

According to some analysts, the bill does not substantially change the framework for the rest of the approval process, which requires the green light from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is called to assess the impact on the environment.

The DOE has received a total of 47 applications, but it has approved just 9. The majority of the application to export to countries that did not sign a FTA agreement with the US are still under DOE review. 

“The U.S. LNG industry needs to capture its space in the global market by signing up customers now, before rival projects do” ExxonMobil’s Richard Scrase told Natural Gas Europe in a recent interview.