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US LNG export capacity to be world’s largest by end of 2022
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects US to become the largest LNG exporter by the end of 2022
At present, the United States is the world’s third-largest LNG exporter behind Australia and Qatar, but is expected to bring two new LNG liquefaction units, at Sabine Pass and Calcasieu Pass, into service in Louisiana by the end of 2022 which will help propel the country into the top spot.
Train 6 at Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG export facility will add up to 30M tonnes per annum (mta) from the Sabine Pass facility. Train 6 began producing LNG in late November; the first export cargo from this train is expected to be shipped before the end of 2021.
Venture Global LNG’s Calcasieu Pass – a new export facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, has 18 liquefaction trains with a combined peak capacity of 12 mta (1.6 Bcf/d).
Commissioning activities at Calcasieu Pass LNG began in November 2021; the first LNG production is expected before the end of this year and all liquefaction trains are expected to be operational by the end of 2022.
In October 2021, the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved requests to increase authorised LNG production Cheniere’s Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi LNG terminals by a combined 261 billion cubic feet per year (Bcf/y).
Construction on Golden Pass – the eighth US LNG export facility – is expected to be complete in 2024, and operations are expected to help peak export capacity further increase to an estimated 16.3 Bcf/d.
By the end of 2022, US nominal capacity is expected to increase to 11.4 Bcf/d, and peak capacity will increase to 13.9 Bcf/d, exceeding capacities from Australia (which has an estimated peak LNG production capacity of 11.4 Bcf/d) and Qatar (peak capacity of 10.4 Bcf/d).
The EIA noted that US export capacity has grown rapidly since the Lower 48 states first began exporting LNG in February 2016. Asia in particular is a rapidly expanding market for natural gas with US exports growing 31% year-on-year in 2020 despite the pandemic.
Over the last two months, US energy firms Cheniere and Venture Global have signed high-profile deals with buyers in China.
Cheniere signed a deal with ENN Energy, a private Chinese firm, to supply LNG to ENN over a 13-year period, while Venture Global’s deal with Sinopec is the single-largest LNG trade agreement to date in terms of volume between the United States and China.
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