The U.S. LNG industry and natural gas pipeline operators expect the incoming Trump Administration to launch a new wave of capacity expansions that would cement America’s position as the world’s largest LNG exporter.
President-elect Donald Trump is preparing an energy package to expand domestic oil and gas drilling on federal lands and offshore lease sales, in addition to expediting LNG export permits.
The new U.S. Administration is expected to reverse the Biden pause on LNG permits, which could make U.S. developers more willing to take final investment decisions (FIDs) on new projects in the next few years.
“We already have large contracts in place with major LNG suppliers and we certainly expect to get more of that,” Alan Armstrong, CEO at gas pipeline giant Williams, told the Financial Times.
The United States will remain the world’s top LNG exporter for decades to come, Anatol Feygin, chief commercial officer at Cheniere, the largest U.S. LNG exporter, told FT.
Cheniere in December achieved first gas at its new Corpus Christi Stage 3 project—one of several export facilities expected to come online in the U.S. in the coming years.
The U.S. has new projects coming online this year and a new President who is expected to strongly support the LNG industry and exports, and possibly use LNG as a bargaining chip in tariff negotiations with trade partners.
U.S. LNG exports are expected to jump by 15% in 2025, reaching almost 14 Bcf/d, thanks to higher export capacity with the Plaquemines LNG and Corpus Christi LNG Stage 3 plants, the EIA said in the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) for December.
The U.S. LNG export capacity is expected to double over the next 5 years, and generate an incremental $1.3 trillion boost to the U.S. economy through 2040, an S&P Global study showed last month.
Despite the rosy prospects under President Trump, some analysts caution that lawsuits and other hurdles to LNG capacity expansion could slow the expected U.S. LNG export boom.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
