13
O
n 24 February 2016, a cargo of LNG left the US
mainland for the first time, heading for an export
market. The
Asia Vision
tanker, commissioned
by Cheniere Energy, began its shipment of LNG from the
company’s Sabine Pass terminal to a regasification facility
in Brazil, heralding a new era for the US energy trade.
The US has already been exporting LNG from the Kenai
terminal in Alaska since 1969, but the cargo dispatched
from Sabine Pass in February represents something
different; the launch of a new wave of LNG from the US
mainland that has been made possible by the country’s
recent shale gas boom. As a result, the US will become a
net exporter of natural gas
by the end of this decade.
However, the launch of
LNG exports from the lower
48 states has occurred in
difficult market conditions,
which were perhaps not
anticipated even 18 months
ago. The US shale boom
raised prospects that
significant volumes of
natural gas would be
available for export
markets, and, in turn,
encouraged energy
Peter Kiernan, The
Economist Intelligence
Unit (EIU), UK,
explains
why US LNG exports still
have a lucrative future,
despite the current low
price market.
