United States becomes world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas in 2022

The United States became the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the world in the first half of 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The data from CEDIGAZ, the International Association for Natural Gas, shows that U.S. LNG exports increased by 12 percent in the first half of 2022, averaging 11.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d).

According to EIA, U.S. LNG exports continued to grow for three reasons — increased LNG export capacity, higher international natural gas and LNG prices, and increased global demand, particularly in Europe.

EIA estimates revealed that installed U.S. LNG export capacity has expanded by 1.9 Bcf/d nominal (2.1 Bcf/d peak) since November 2021. The capacity additions included a sixth train at the Sabine Pass LNG, 18 new mid-scale liquefaction trains at the Calcasieu Pass LNG, and increased LNG production capacity at Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi LNG facilities.

As of July 2022, EIA estimates that the U.S. LNG liquefaction capacity averaged 11.4 Bcf/d, with a shorter-term peak capacity of 13.9 Bcf/d.

Further, international natural gas and LNG prices hit record highs in the last quarter of 2021 and the first half of 2022. Prices at the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) in the Netherlands have been trading at record highs since October 2021. Also, LNG spot prices in Asia have been high, averaging $29.50/MMBtu during the same period.

In addition, countries in Europe have increasingly imported more LNG to compensate for lower pipeline imports from Russia and to fill historically low natural gas storage inventories. Specifically, LNG imports in the EU and UK increased by 63 percent during the first half of 2022 to average 14.8 Bcf/d.

Most U.S. LNG exports – about 64 percent or 7.3 Bcf/d, of the total U.S. LNG exports — went to the EU and the UK during the first five months of this year. In June, the United States exported 11 percent less LNG than the 11.4 Bcf/d average exports during the first five months of 2022, mainly due to an unplanned outage at the Freeport LNG export facility. Freeport LNG was expected to resume partial liquefaction operations in early October 2022.

Utilization of the peak capacity at the seven U.S. LNG export facilities averaged 87 percent during the first half of 2022, mainly before the Freeport LNG outage. According to EIA, this is similar to the utilization on average during 2021.