U.S. Natural Gas Exports Begin

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Heartland:

In a development few could have foreseen as recently as a decade ago, the United States recently exported its first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

 

A tanker bound for Brazil departed Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG export facility in late February.

 

Cheniere originally intended the Sabine Pass facility to receive imported LNG. The U.S. natural gas boom, resulting from hydraulic fracturing, prompted Cheniere to “reverse-engineer” the Louisiana terminal for the export of LNG. Cheniere is the first U.S. company to receive a federal permit to export LNG.

 

“Ten years ago, the experts thought the United States needed to import natural gas,” said Dan Simmons, vice president of the Institute for Energy Research. “Now, we are a natural gas exporter.

 

“It is difficult to understate the impact of the hydraulic fracturing revolution on the global natural gas market,” Simmons said. “The biggest problem for producers is not too little natural gas in the United States, but too much, leading to super low prices.”